Today was day 9 of training (out of 87 scheduled runs)I am very proud of the fact that even though it has been cold and rainy (today was just cold) I have done every one of my training runs scheduled to date. Today was a short run (20 minutes) in which I ran at a pace it took me 9+weeks of training for the Bellingham race to achieve so I am really excited about that given that I really took about 6 weeks off of training after the Bellingham race so I was expecting to be more back to square one than I am.
I was reading an article the other day that said that you go 2 seconds per mile faster for every pound of weight you lose so when (not if, when) I achieve my goal weight loss for Eugene that should mean that just on weight loss alone (never mind better cardio and strength) I should be able to run the race 17-18 minutes faster than I ran Bellingham in so if that isn't incentive enough to lose the weight amongst all the other reasons I have, I don't know what is.
I felt really good today although it was windy and cold and that always makes the first 5-7 minutes hard to get going as you try to "catch your breath" from the wind. I would prefer to run in the rain over running in the wind so given that I was really pushing the pace today I was pleased with myself for trudging through the wind.
Anyway, day 10 tomorrow, I have a short run scheduled but I think I might go for a longer easy run instead depending on the weather...Feels good to be back running with a purpose again.
til next time,
Mike
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The Road to Eugene 2011 - and so it begins...again...
So here I sit with insomnia at 4:10am in the morning on a Tuesday thinking about how Christmas is 11 days away and other things in life are in full flux and so I decided to get up and write because it's better than lying in bed not being able to sleep.
Yesterday morning I completed training run #8 of my plan for the 2011 Eugene Oregon Half-Marathon which is going to happen on May 1, 2011. The last few months since Cheryll and I ran in the Bellingham half have been spotty running for me at best. I have managed to get out a couple of times a week for the most part but no real commitment. Over the past two weeks I have gotten back into “training mode” and last weekend as a family we ran the 2010 Santa Shuffle 5K (well Cheryll and I plus our oldest son ran the 5k, our 9 yr old son and 4 yr old daughter did the 1K walk with Grandma). It was good as a family to be able to do that and I love running with my wife in these kinds of fund-raising runs. It's just so nice to see how our family is changing with us all becoming runners (well for me it's becoming a runner "again"). My 9 yr. old ran his first year of cross-country this year and loved it. Cheryll and I are so excited for both him and our 15 yr. old as we train more, we will be able to run with them as well so that will make things even more fun for all of us (although my 15 yr. old has to run "down" to dad's speed it's still nice to be able to do that together from time to time).
Anyway, back to Eugene training. Last year about this time I made the commitment to myself to run a half-marathon. I thought it was going to be Vancouver but it turned out to be Eugene through a weird series of events. Now here I am one year later and not only have I already registered for the 2011 race but so has my wife. Last year my goal was to get healthier and re-start my running career. Weight loss was something I would hopefully see as a by-product of the running. A year later I can say I am definitely healthier than I was a year ago and I have lost some weight (about 22 lbs.) and that is great but this year I have some new goals that will make a huge difference for my 2011 race.
Goal #1 - Set a Personal Record (PR) - Last year in Eugene I ran the half marathon in 2 hours and 53 minutes on the nose. My goal for this year is to cut that time by a minimum of 25 minutes to finish in less than 2 hours and 28 minutes (I ran Bellingham in 2:43:13). I believe this very doable if I stay committed to my running training plan. In fact I am really hoping to break 2:20:00 but I would be extremely happy if I hit 2:28:00 and ran the whole race (I had to walk some portions last year because of a tight hamstring and some of the hills). The past two half marathon races I have had “down” times during my training (especially in the weeks leading up to the races) and I know those have affected my ability on race day. I want to make sure that I complete 90+% of my training runs for Eugene 2011 and barring sickness or injury if I do that I should be able to smash my current PR.
Goal#2 - Cross-Train - For the past year I have been focused on running, and pretty much only running. While this has been good for my cardio, I know that if I want to get more toned and stronger (which will ultimately help my running even more) then I need to cross train as well. Cheryll and I have invested in a number of different types of cross training games for our Wii (Wii-fit, Biggest Loser and most recently EA Active which I am really excited about) plus I have previously done the Escape your Shape program. Now that I am comfortable with my running plan it is time to focus on getting my "whole" body in shape. So as I go through the months of January to May I will continue to work on core strength training and will continue to modify my "cross-training days" to include the programs that work best for me. I will probably start with Escape your Shape as a foundation because I know the program and I have seen in the past what it did for me a few years back but I like that we have options that will allow us to switch things up and keep things fresh while we keep running.
Goal #3 - Lose Weight - and not just a little bit of weight, a significant amount of weight. My goal for between now and race day is to lose 40lbs (which is a little over 2lbs/week starting in January) which I truly believe is doable if we are focused on exercise and diet. Learning from last years "pre-Christmas start-up" running training experience, I am not silly enough to start focusing on meal plans 11 days before Christmas but Cheryll and I have agreed that as of January 3rd we will begin focusing on our diet very deliberately. Understand we are not going "on a diet" because that is a temporary solution to a bigger problem. Rather we are going to start eating an even "healthier" diet than we have been for the past year. One of the major steps in doing this is to eliminate and get rid of all truly "unhealthy" foods out of our house (this will happen on January 1st/2nd). Our kids have been warned, the days of having any chips, chocolate, ice cream or any other high-calorie/low-nutrition foods in our house are done. Sure there will be "special" treats from time to time (like Easter eggs for the kids) but there will not be food like that sitting around in our house anymore. Ultimately it is about eating the right foods 90% of the time in the right portions, at the right times. I have not focused on my diet at all this past year and I know that at times I fell into the “I’m exercising so I can have this” mode of thinking, all I really did was not lose weight I would have otherwise lost if I hadn’t thought that way. So starting January 3rd Cheryll and I will be putting together weekly meal plans for ourselves that will give us all the necessary nutrients we need (because if you eat right you really don’t need a lot of vitamin supplements, did you know that…) and the necessary fuel we need for our running. For me it will be about eating “more often” in smaller portions. I’m not an over-eater by nature but I’m a sporadic eater (and usually at the wrong time of the day).
Goal #4 – Get more sleep – I just don’t sleep enough (says the guy typing this at 4:30 in the morning). My plan for sleep is much like my training or eating plan. As my goal for work is to not travel much (or at all) I should be able to get into more of a routine of sleep. I am a night person by nature but get up with Cheryll in the morning so the combination turns into getting 5-6 hours of sleep a lot of nights. This is not good enough and will not result in me getting healthier and losing weight. Therefore I need to be much more deliberate about when I go to bed so that I am getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night. This will have a profound effect on me physically I know so I need to be focused on it.
Goal #5 – Become a “water-monster” again! – When I lost a huge amount of weight back in 2005 prior to joining World Vision I would drink about 120-130 ounces of water a day, EVERY DAY! I need to get back to that person. I believe getting back into a more routine office environment will help me with both the water and the food as I will be more focused on meals and snacks taken to work and I am definitely a “sipper” of water when I am in meetings or in my office but like running and food I need to have a plan for my water consumption every day (which I used to have) and I need to be focused on sticking to it. Besides good hydration equals strong running! Stay tuned on this one.
Goal #6 – Focus on God (I know this should always be number 1) – He has given me the ability to still run when I took my body for granted for so long. I need to spend more time studying His word and be more deliberate about my Devotion, Worship and Prayer time. I have been blessed to be able to run again and I know it, now I need to keep my commitment to be a stronger, more spiritual me.
Goal #7 – Post my progress on my blog. Part of this is to keep myself accountable and part of it is to encourage others who may be going through similar plans of their own. As I posted earlier this year I would love to have my friends and family join “Team Mike” in re-committing to themselves to whatever it is that they want to do to change their lives. I know that I was encouraged to start running again by seeing my friend Kevin doing it in 2009 and I hope that Cheryll and I can be an encouragement to others in the same way (I know that I have been for one person at least already and he has already started changing his life!). Some updates will be short, some will be long, but I need to keep them going.
So there you have it, Eugene 2011 is going to be great, I’m hoping that I will have a number of friends joining Cheryll and I this year in running (or walking). Some have already started and one has already committed on running with us in Eugene. I would love to have others come down with us and run (or walk) and am hopeful that another couple who are pondering it will make the commitment to themselves to do it. If you want to join us please let me know and share with us your plans for 2011
Part of being successful in life is about setting goals and staying focused on them. Whether it is running a race, accomplishing a home project, completing a project at work, losing weight or even going on a trip, you must have a destination in mind and a plan to get there. I am excited about all the “destinations” and “plans” I have for 2011 and they all start with my commitment to myself on all these fronts and the first real measuring stick of how successful I was in doing that will be EUGENE 2011!
Til next Time…
Mike
Yesterday morning I completed training run #8 of my plan for the 2011 Eugene Oregon Half-Marathon which is going to happen on May 1, 2011. The last few months since Cheryll and I ran in the Bellingham half have been spotty running for me at best. I have managed to get out a couple of times a week for the most part but no real commitment. Over the past two weeks I have gotten back into “training mode” and last weekend as a family we ran the 2010 Santa Shuffle 5K (well Cheryll and I plus our oldest son ran the 5k, our 9 yr old son and 4 yr old daughter did the 1K walk with Grandma). It was good as a family to be able to do that and I love running with my wife in these kinds of fund-raising runs. It's just so nice to see how our family is changing with us all becoming runners (well for me it's becoming a runner "again"). My 9 yr. old ran his first year of cross-country this year and loved it. Cheryll and I are so excited for both him and our 15 yr. old as we train more, we will be able to run with them as well so that will make things even more fun for all of us (although my 15 yr. old has to run "down" to dad's speed it's still nice to be able to do that together from time to time).
Anyway, back to Eugene training. Last year about this time I made the commitment to myself to run a half-marathon. I thought it was going to be Vancouver but it turned out to be Eugene through a weird series of events. Now here I am one year later and not only have I already registered for the 2011 race but so has my wife. Last year my goal was to get healthier and re-start my running career. Weight loss was something I would hopefully see as a by-product of the running. A year later I can say I am definitely healthier than I was a year ago and I have lost some weight (about 22 lbs.) and that is great but this year I have some new goals that will make a huge difference for my 2011 race.
Goal #1 - Set a Personal Record (PR) - Last year in Eugene I ran the half marathon in 2 hours and 53 minutes on the nose. My goal for this year is to cut that time by a minimum of 25 minutes to finish in less than 2 hours and 28 minutes (I ran Bellingham in 2:43:13). I believe this very doable if I stay committed to my running training plan. In fact I am really hoping to break 2:20:00 but I would be extremely happy if I hit 2:28:00 and ran the whole race (I had to walk some portions last year because of a tight hamstring and some of the hills). The past two half marathon races I have had “down” times during my training (especially in the weeks leading up to the races) and I know those have affected my ability on race day. I want to make sure that I complete 90+% of my training runs for Eugene 2011 and barring sickness or injury if I do that I should be able to smash my current PR.
Goal#2 - Cross-Train - For the past year I have been focused on running, and pretty much only running. While this has been good for my cardio, I know that if I want to get more toned and stronger (which will ultimately help my running even more) then I need to cross train as well. Cheryll and I have invested in a number of different types of cross training games for our Wii (Wii-fit, Biggest Loser and most recently EA Active which I am really excited about) plus I have previously done the Escape your Shape program. Now that I am comfortable with my running plan it is time to focus on getting my "whole" body in shape. So as I go through the months of January to May I will continue to work on core strength training and will continue to modify my "cross-training days" to include the programs that work best for me. I will probably start with Escape your Shape as a foundation because I know the program and I have seen in the past what it did for me a few years back but I like that we have options that will allow us to switch things up and keep things fresh while we keep running.
Goal #3 - Lose Weight - and not just a little bit of weight, a significant amount of weight. My goal for between now and race day is to lose 40lbs (which is a little over 2lbs/week starting in January) which I truly believe is doable if we are focused on exercise and diet. Learning from last years "pre-Christmas start-up" running training experience, I am not silly enough to start focusing on meal plans 11 days before Christmas but Cheryll and I have agreed that as of January 3rd we will begin focusing on our diet very deliberately. Understand we are not going "on a diet" because that is a temporary solution to a bigger problem. Rather we are going to start eating an even "healthier" diet than we have been for the past year. One of the major steps in doing this is to eliminate and get rid of all truly "unhealthy" foods out of our house (this will happen on January 1st/2nd). Our kids have been warned, the days of having any chips, chocolate, ice cream or any other high-calorie/low-nutrition foods in our house are done. Sure there will be "special" treats from time to time (like Easter eggs for the kids) but there will not be food like that sitting around in our house anymore. Ultimately it is about eating the right foods 90% of the time in the right portions, at the right times. I have not focused on my diet at all this past year and I know that at times I fell into the “I’m exercising so I can have this” mode of thinking, all I really did was not lose weight I would have otherwise lost if I hadn’t thought that way. So starting January 3rd Cheryll and I will be putting together weekly meal plans for ourselves that will give us all the necessary nutrients we need (because if you eat right you really don’t need a lot of vitamin supplements, did you know that…) and the necessary fuel we need for our running. For me it will be about eating “more often” in smaller portions. I’m not an over-eater by nature but I’m a sporadic eater (and usually at the wrong time of the day).
Goal #4 – Get more sleep – I just don’t sleep enough (says the guy typing this at 4:30 in the morning). My plan for sleep is much like my training or eating plan. As my goal for work is to not travel much (or at all) I should be able to get into more of a routine of sleep. I am a night person by nature but get up with Cheryll in the morning so the combination turns into getting 5-6 hours of sleep a lot of nights. This is not good enough and will not result in me getting healthier and losing weight. Therefore I need to be much more deliberate about when I go to bed so that I am getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night. This will have a profound effect on me physically I know so I need to be focused on it.
Goal #5 – Become a “water-monster” again! – When I lost a huge amount of weight back in 2005 prior to joining World Vision I would drink about 120-130 ounces of water a day, EVERY DAY! I need to get back to that person. I believe getting back into a more routine office environment will help me with both the water and the food as I will be more focused on meals and snacks taken to work and I am definitely a “sipper” of water when I am in meetings or in my office but like running and food I need to have a plan for my water consumption every day (which I used to have) and I need to be focused on sticking to it. Besides good hydration equals strong running! Stay tuned on this one.
Goal #6 – Focus on God (I know this should always be number 1) – He has given me the ability to still run when I took my body for granted for so long. I need to spend more time studying His word and be more deliberate about my Devotion, Worship and Prayer time. I have been blessed to be able to run again and I know it, now I need to keep my commitment to be a stronger, more spiritual me.
Goal #7 – Post my progress on my blog. Part of this is to keep myself accountable and part of it is to encourage others who may be going through similar plans of their own. As I posted earlier this year I would love to have my friends and family join “Team Mike” in re-committing to themselves to whatever it is that they want to do to change their lives. I know that I was encouraged to start running again by seeing my friend Kevin doing it in 2009 and I hope that Cheryll and I can be an encouragement to others in the same way (I know that I have been for one person at least already and he has already started changing his life!). Some updates will be short, some will be long, but I need to keep them going.
So there you have it, Eugene 2011 is going to be great, I’m hoping that I will have a number of friends joining Cheryll and I this year in running (or walking). Some have already started and one has already committed on running with us in Eugene. I would love to have others come down with us and run (or walk) and am hopeful that another couple who are pondering it will make the commitment to themselves to do it. If you want to join us please let me know and share with us your plans for 2011
Part of being successful in life is about setting goals and staying focused on them. Whether it is running a race, accomplishing a home project, completing a project at work, losing weight or even going on a trip, you must have a destination in mind and a plan to get there. I am excited about all the “destinations” and “plans” I have for 2011 and they all start with my commitment to myself on all these fronts and the first real measuring stick of how successful I was in doing that will be EUGENE 2011!
Til next Time…
Mike
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Can one voice make a difference? YOU BET IT CAN!
While at times I'm sure we have all sat there thinking that something is wrong and we don't agree with it, we also sit there and think "what difference would it make if I said I didn't agree with it, I'm only one voice". This is a very natural feeling that we all have and unfortunately in 99% of the cases stops someone from standing up and speaking their mind.
I'm afraid to admit that I am probably one of those people more often than most of my friends/colleagues/acquaintences realise because if you ask them about me they will tell you that I am very vocal about what I believe and feel (and they are right to an extent) but what they don't realise is there are many many times where I just sit back and keep my mouth shut for fear of "what difference would it make if I did say anything, nothing is going to change" and I wait to hear if someone else feels the same way and then if they stand up and speak I get behind them and support them (safety in numbers you know).
The question I have to ask myself is what if everyone in the room felt the same way about something being wrong and they all thought "what difference would it make if I said I didn't agree with it, I'm only one voice" and so no one got up and spoke their mind? In that case even though the majority of the people in the room don't agree with a decision or a direction and they are entrusted to be a part of that, they end up doing exactly what none of them want to do because not one of them had the strength to stand up for what they believe in. And yet if only one of them had done spoken up then all of them would have agreed that this is the wrong thing to do and it wouldn't happen.
Recently, there have been some things happening in an organisation that I am involved in where I am not comfortable with the way things are being handled/done and yet while I have tried to approach certain individuals key to the decision making process in the organisation I have not publicly gotten up and stated my feelings about these topics in an open forum of that organisation. Why you might ask? Well for one, I do believe it is always better to go to a person one on one before bringing something public to see if there is information you can get or a resolution to an issue you have before making it public. However if that doesn't work you need to be prepared to speak your mind in a forum appropriate for that to happen. In this case there hasn't been an open forum that was available to address the specific issues I felt needed to be dealt with and I have already tried the direct one on one (or one on group) approach.
Having said that, something happened this past week that has made me realise that it is important at times to create a public forum when none exists in order that people can have their say and be heard. While it is not common there is precedence for major change to happen by these types of public outcries. I think in particular about the Philippines and the People Power marches that toppled governments, I think of Jesus going into the temple and turning over the tables of the loan sharks and merchants. In both these cases it was a statement of unhappiness over something that was being done that was wrong and an unwillingness to stand by and let it just happen.
In the past 3 days I have received numerous calls from individuals who have said "I am not happy about this or the way things are being handled" and they felt exactly the way I have been feeling about things and are basically saying the same thing. "There must be something we can do about this, what do we do?" they ask and I have had to respond that I truly believe we need our voices to be heard and we need to hear "all sides" of the story because right now we don't have enough information in order to make a proper judgement on what we truly feel about things, only a somewhat informed feeling that requires us to deal with it in a frustrated uninformed manner.
Honestly, if it weren't for all of those calls I would probably have let the situations that brought me to a feeling of discontent to linger on and eventually cause me to evaluate whether or not I wanted to continue to be a part of that kind of organisation. However because of these "single voice" calls I have discovered that I am not alone and that many many others are seeking the same answers to the same questions as I am and because of that each of their single voices, making a phone call to me makes me realise that one voice can make a difference. How many others have already made their evaluaion, decided their voice won't make a difference and have just left. I'm sure many of them.
So where does one go from here. Well in my case it is to work with some of these people together so they can share with each other what they are feeling and allow us to put together a plan of action that results in us getting the answers we seek to the concerns we have. If we can't get those who should do it to create an appropriate public forum than we may have to be the creators of that forum. We may discover through this process that things aren't what we thought they were and with the right information in hand may feel better about what is transpiring. However we might find out that by stepping out with our "one voice" that a lot more people are feeling the same way and in fact upon getting the necessary information will have the responsibility to call for change and "fix" the problem we perceive to be there. In either case we end up with a conclusion to an issue that is causing many people to be concerned and/or upset.
So I guess what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, or question what you think is wrong. Speak your mind, because you may just be that one voice that causes everyone else who was too afraid to say anything because "what will my one voice do" to stand up and say "we agree" and instead of a bunch of frustrated individuals all feeling bad, you end up with a united group of people who make the right decision for the common good.
So can one voice make a difference? YOU BET IT CAN!
I'm afraid to admit that I am probably one of those people more often than most of my friends/colleagues/acquaintences realise because if you ask them about me they will tell you that I am very vocal about what I believe and feel (and they are right to an extent) but what they don't realise is there are many many times where I just sit back and keep my mouth shut for fear of "what difference would it make if I did say anything, nothing is going to change" and I wait to hear if someone else feels the same way and then if they stand up and speak I get behind them and support them (safety in numbers you know).
The question I have to ask myself is what if everyone in the room felt the same way about something being wrong and they all thought "what difference would it make if I said I didn't agree with it, I'm only one voice" and so no one got up and spoke their mind? In that case even though the majority of the people in the room don't agree with a decision or a direction and they are entrusted to be a part of that, they end up doing exactly what none of them want to do because not one of them had the strength to stand up for what they believe in. And yet if only one of them had done spoken up then all of them would have agreed that this is the wrong thing to do and it wouldn't happen.
Recently, there have been some things happening in an organisation that I am involved in where I am not comfortable with the way things are being handled/done and yet while I have tried to approach certain individuals key to the decision making process in the organisation I have not publicly gotten up and stated my feelings about these topics in an open forum of that organisation. Why you might ask? Well for one, I do believe it is always better to go to a person one on one before bringing something public to see if there is information you can get or a resolution to an issue you have before making it public. However if that doesn't work you need to be prepared to speak your mind in a forum appropriate for that to happen. In this case there hasn't been an open forum that was available to address the specific issues I felt needed to be dealt with and I have already tried the direct one on one (or one on group) approach.
Having said that, something happened this past week that has made me realise that it is important at times to create a public forum when none exists in order that people can have their say and be heard. While it is not common there is precedence for major change to happen by these types of public outcries. I think in particular about the Philippines and the People Power marches that toppled governments, I think of Jesus going into the temple and turning over the tables of the loan sharks and merchants. In both these cases it was a statement of unhappiness over something that was being done that was wrong and an unwillingness to stand by and let it just happen.
In the past 3 days I have received numerous calls from individuals who have said "I am not happy about this or the way things are being handled" and they felt exactly the way I have been feeling about things and are basically saying the same thing. "There must be something we can do about this, what do we do?" they ask and I have had to respond that I truly believe we need our voices to be heard and we need to hear "all sides" of the story because right now we don't have enough information in order to make a proper judgement on what we truly feel about things, only a somewhat informed feeling that requires us to deal with it in a frustrated uninformed manner.
Honestly, if it weren't for all of those calls I would probably have let the situations that brought me to a feeling of discontent to linger on and eventually cause me to evaluate whether or not I wanted to continue to be a part of that kind of organisation. However because of these "single voice" calls I have discovered that I am not alone and that many many others are seeking the same answers to the same questions as I am and because of that each of their single voices, making a phone call to me makes me realise that one voice can make a difference. How many others have already made their evaluaion, decided their voice won't make a difference and have just left. I'm sure many of them.
So where does one go from here. Well in my case it is to work with some of these people together so they can share with each other what they are feeling and allow us to put together a plan of action that results in us getting the answers we seek to the concerns we have. If we can't get those who should do it to create an appropriate public forum than we may have to be the creators of that forum. We may discover through this process that things aren't what we thought they were and with the right information in hand may feel better about what is transpiring. However we might find out that by stepping out with our "one voice" that a lot more people are feeling the same way and in fact upon getting the necessary information will have the responsibility to call for change and "fix" the problem we perceive to be there. In either case we end up with a conclusion to an issue that is causing many people to be concerned and/or upset.
So I guess what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, or question what you think is wrong. Speak your mind, because you may just be that one voice that causes everyone else who was too afraid to say anything because "what will my one voice do" to stand up and say "we agree" and instead of a bunch of frustrated individuals all feeling bad, you end up with a united group of people who make the right decision for the common good.
So can one voice make a difference? YOU BET IT CAN!
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