jeans,shopping,nice jeans,fitness,shape,diet,exercise
Ah the Levi’s 501. The iconic jean. The one piece of clothing I have lusted after since high school. The one piece of clothing I could never fit into. Even after my crazy running binge prior to the High School Formal at Otago Boys. Even after running half-marathons I was unable to really fit into a pair of 501s. So imagine my surprise when this weekend, I tried a pair on for giggles and discovered … they fit. They fit well, they aren’t tight, but they make me look like a rock star (well, I might be exaggerating there, but I have received many compliments on them and me after wearing them 
).
So to what do I attribute my new 501′d shape? Maybe Levi’s like all other clothing sizes are getting bigger to keep pace with the expanding waistlines of the first world? Maybe my change in diet/portion size and my run 3-4 days a week regime really is fundamentally chaning the way I am. I feel grumpy when I don’t run. I feel grumpy when I eat too much. Maybe things really are changing.
The big challenge is that I signed up for the Nike Human Race. A Global race where millions of runners from around the world will all run a 10k at the same time. Syncronized by starters in major cities, or doe independantly through your Nike+ enabled running shoes. A bunch of my NY friends will also be running the race (probably) so it’s going to be fun. I want to beat my last 10k time of just on an hour. I had more than 200 miles on my last pair of Asics Kayanos and I literally bought a pair of Nike Structure Triax 11’s just for the race. Its my first pair of non-Asics running shoes in a long time. They were a great deal and got a good runners world review. So far they’ve been great.
However, 2 weeks ago I rode my bike for the first time, scouting a 5 mile loop at breakneck speed. I don’t think I stretched properly, and ever since my left calf muscle has begun to ache. Right at the top of the muscle, it doesn’t hurt when I run, it hurts afterwards. So I took 9 days off running last week (with associated grumpiness). Yesterday, in Detroit I went for a 4 mile loop through Birmingham, MI. It was pretty, hot, beautiful houses, I stretched and ran like the wind. Then after the shower, bam, my calf is in pain again. I am really worried that this means a month off recuperating. That would mean that I will need to find another cardio way to stay in shape without hurting my calf. Grrrrrrrrr, making me even grumpier!
Filed under: exercise, personal improvement, running
January 1, 2008 • 9:28 am
So like every good la wai, I started the New Year with a resolution to exercise a little more. So this morning I ventured out of my cozy, bland midtown apartment to go for a run up towards Central Park. As I left the weather closed in and began a metallic drizzle, whipped up by random gusts of frigid wind thrown from the tops of glass & steel towers. The city stench was overpowering … the reek of dog sh!t, horse sh!t, and human waste from every imaginable place was lifted onto the damp arctic air. I gagged as I ran with the other foolhardy souls, pondering the move, the wisdom of running off a treadmill, and what will my first day at my new job tomorrow bring … Happy New Year everyone, 2008 will be a big year of changes for me and my family.
Filed under: USA, exercise , exercise, moving to nyc, nyc, running, stink
August 22, 2006 • 7:56 am
So my grand exercise experiment is a failure … I have been trying to weave exercise into my regime and have not been able to achieve this! The weekend was the first day where I manage about 20 minutes a day swimming. Boy, am I out of shape but I forgot how much of a whole body exercise swimming is … now to find the time!
Filed under: diet, exercise, happenings
Well, it’s been close to 3 week in the first phase of South Beach. I’ve shed about 15 pounds (210 -> 195lbs, that’d be 7.5kg or 95 -> 88kg for you antipodeans). I really feel better … I survived at least one business trip (just got back from Kansas City, Missouri: ah steak and barbeque) … I’ve survived a couple of team events (beers all around, thank heavens for Michelob Ultra Amber) … and I’m ready to begin moving into the next phase: exercise.
The question is what: running? swimming? biking? elliptical? weights? some combination of all of them? I think I’ll shoot for 2 days weights and 3 days cardio per week. I’ll probably begin with the easy stuff: run or elliptical and weights. I’m lucky enough to have a gym setup in the basement so in theory the barrier to entry should be relatively small. We’ll see I guess …
The real question is can I transfer this into a way of life and not a passing fad? I have started this in probably the most challenging part of my career … so if I can do this now, why not the relatively calm times!
Filed under: Getting Things Done, diet, exercise, personal improvement
So strange person growth moment in my life, I appear to have been successfully able to restart my low-carb lifestyle. The punds are shedding off, m body is over it’s sugar addiction and I fell happier and healthier already. Strange side effects, I sweat less … which in a hot DC summer is a good thing. In the immortal words of Paul van Dyk “DC’s never seen it so hot”.
The big change though is a shift in mindset. I appear to have slipped into a mindset where I understand why eating bad things doesn’t make sense. I noticed a by line ona book about procrastination which read something like: “Discover the small rewards that you give yourself, that contrinute to your self loathing”. I also realized (by watching VH1 no less) that the rail thin clebrities and bulked up muscle men really do train 2 hours a day, watch what they eat, and focus on looks pretty much all the time. What this led to was me thinking about what I was eating, all day, every day. It appears to be a behavioral change.
I have always wondered why most doctors are relatively fit, healthy, normal looking people. I’ve also been reading about Systems THinknig, and I wonder if it is because doctors understand the system of systems that make up the human body. They understand the interactions, and they act on it. Is the secret to beating obesity in education? Not the “if you eat bad food you get fat” kind of education, but the “here’s how it all works, you decide how you want to treat it” kind?
Filed under: Getting Things Done, diet, exercise, personal improvement
