Well, I'm back after a crazy month of August with work and camping with the family, etc.
Today's post is getting back to my journey to good health. As many of you know last year about this time I was in Ethiopia getting ready to come home from my last international trip with World Vision. In fact it was 1 year ago tomorrow that I went for my last "training run" in Addis. I remember at the start of the trip in Kuala Lumpur Gary and I had been working out in the gym in the hotel almost every night. TALK ABOUT DUMB!!! Here it had been years since I had done any sort of meaningful workouts (yes off and on commitments but no real consistency) and I was going to work out every day. Needless to say by the time I got to Addis I was probably in pretty bad shape physically but I was going to train no matter what...Well I went downstairs to the gym and decided to start my "run"...Now remember Addis is at about 800o ft elevation so no small feat for a guy my size who is out of shape to get air at that elevation. So off I start walking until I am warmed up and then I start to run and within about 5 minutes I am gasping for air (I wasn't doing this in KL, what is wrong I think)...So I jump off of the treadmill and because there is no one in the gym I walk upstairs to the front desk "GASPING" for breath...the poor girl at the front desk is all concerned "Are you ok sir, do you need an ambulance?" and I'm trying to tell her I'm ok but I just need to get my breath and make sure someone was around because there was no one in the gym (OK yeah I was a little freaked out at this point). After a minute or so my breathing gets back to semi-normal and I tell her I'm fine it's just the elevation (and years of not exercising and being obese!...OK I didn't say that part to her...), So off I go downstairs and instead of running I walk the remainder of my 45 minutes at a speed that quite frankly made me mad. Because of my "over-training" I ended up in Physio-Therapy for 2 months with achilles issues. When I finally got back to good health I re-committed myself (after some words from my son but you can read that in an earlier post), but ironically almost a year later that lesson about listening to your body and not pushing things has stuck with me. There have been days over the past year where I have been tired, not feeling so well, coming off of a long run within the previous 2 days and it would be easy to just stay home and not go for a run but I remember that it is better to workout at a lesser intensity for a shorter period of time then to do nothing at all.
Just this past Tuesday I went out for my normal Tuesday morning short run. On Sunday afternoon I did an 11 mile run and while I was feeling really good by Tuesday morning it was raining and I was a little tired and so I thought as I started to run that instead of pushing for a fast time today like I normally would I was just going to "take it easy" and do a comfortable run watching to keep my heart rate in a specific zone lower then I normally run at. What a difference a year makes. 8 months of training in 2010 (starting on January 3rd.) and one half-marathon down later, my easy run on Tuesday resulted in me running a faster pace for 4 miles that at any point or distance (including my short 1.89 mile run)during the four months of training I did for the Eugene half-marathon. How could this be? Well it could be because repetition and commitment will always result in success achieving better health and fitness. Last night I ran 6 miles in just a little over an hour. 4 months ago my goal was to run 5 miles in an hour. A year ago I would have been so proud of myself to be able to run 10 minutes at 5.5 miles an hour speed, yesterday I ran 5.7+ mph for 6 miles.
Today less than 13 hours after finishing a 6 mile run I am going out for my normal Friday morning run (4 miles). It is not what I want to do on a normal basis (I am a morning runner now and last night's run ideally would have happened in the morning), but it is what I have to do in order to get in today's run. The difference now, I have no fear about doing it, it is only a 4 mile run (when did 4 miles become "only"?) and if I am not feeling it I know that I can give myself permission to "take it easy" and just run to how I feel. Why? Because I now know that I am...therefore I run...and nothing is going to stop me now!
So whether you have been working out or not, running or not, walking or not. It is never to late to start. I have now last over 25lbs since I left World Vision last fall. I have not gone on any "meal plan" or "crash diet" I have simply decided to run...to run half-marathons, to run/walk at times but mostly just to get out there and move. God has given me the benefit of a second chance to rediscover the athlete in me, it may have taken 25 years, I may be a lot slower than I used to be, I may be over 100lbs heavier than I was then, but I'm healthier today then I have been at any time over the past 25 years and in the next year I plan on getting even more so. My next race is the Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon on September 26th, 2010. I am going to be running that with my wife and my former assistant (and still friend!) from World Vision. Cheryll is doing her first half-marathon and she started out with a goal of "walking" the race, over the past few weeks walking has just been too slow for my very a-type wife and she has now started running and walking. Megan is 15+years younger than me and she is much fitter and so I expect that even though this is her first half-marathon she will do it no problem and will more than likely finish well ahead of me. In May in Eugene I ran the race in 2 hours and 53 minutes. My goal for Bellingham is to finish in under 2 hours and 33 minutes (yes that's right a 20 minute improvement). At this point I am feeling pretty good about my training and that if I don't experience any unforseen complications during the race (can you say muscle cramps!) then I should be able to achieve that goal. But through it all I keep reminding both Cheryll and Megs that the goal for the race is to finish...No matter what the time...
So "Team Mike" as I have started to think of the three of us (I know it's a little self-absorbed but hey I'm the one who got them to commit to the race) is a cross-section of what running is all about. It is not about how big or small or fast or slow you are, it's about, as Nike would say, "Just Doing It!" A year ago, I was all pumped up because I wanted to lose weight and do something BIG...8 months ago, it was about running a race (weight-loss was no longer a motivation, just an assumed by-product)...2.5 months ago, it was about not losing momentum and keeping my commitment to myself to better health...Today, it is about who I am. I am a runner now, I am someone who has the power to show others that it's never too late to start exercising/running and that no matter how small (or BIG) you are it is something you can do. I have a dream that in the next year I can have at least 12 other people join "Team Mike" in doing something they would never have thought possible, but I realise through all of this that the reason people will join the movement is not because I talk a good talk, it is because I walk the walk. And in that I thank God for teaching me that it's like my faith in him. I can't just talk the talk, I need to walk the walk, that is how people will come to know the joy and love I have in God. It is only in that way that you truly can be a testimony to him.
So let God be your example that all things are possible through him. John Bingham in his book "Running for Mortals" talks about the day he became "a runner". It happened one morning where he finally decided to go out and just do it. He ran as hard as he could as fast as he could as he headed out of his driveway and lasted...8 seconds...but then after catching his breath he stood back up and continued his "run" as far as he could. How did he know he was a runner? Because he decided to be one and kept going...plus once he got back to his house he hopped in his car to measure how far he went (can you say runners mind). And just so you get the picture of what it is to "be a runner" he went a grand total of...one-quarter of a mile...yes, that's right 1/4 mile, 4/10th's of a kilometer. But he did it, and he hasn't stopped since then. He has run marathons in Greece (the original course), New York, Chicago and many other places but it all started with an 8 second commitment...
So if you haven't done it recently, get out there and walk (or run) and if you feel like you can't do it, you can, I know you can...why? because I did and I will guarantee you if a guy who started this journey at 300lb+ can do it so can you. Oh and if you want to join "Team Mike" then I would love to know about your commitment to yourself. I will continue to post the races I am going to do and I hope that you will be able to join me on one of them, but even if you can't run the race I am doing you can run your own.
Well I need to sign-off now because I have a run to do.
Til Next Time...
Mike
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Sometimes when we talk...or change...stuff happens
Have you ever noticed that sometimes the words we speak are not the thought we mean to convey?
I often think about this as I write because emails or blog posts or documents can convey words but not emotions or intent. Many people on Facebook or other mediums post their feelings or what they perceive to be their feelings only to have others "mis-interpret" their posts completely.
In the same vein company or organisational leaders in an attempt to provide transparency or inclusiveness (is that a word?) to the employees or members of an organisation can, without intending to, create a bigger issue for themselves just with the use of a misunderstood word in a communication. The same holds true for providing "too much" information. When individuals receive information overload their brains naturally seek out those things they understand and in many cases they will make presumptions about the rest of the information or take the information they process and put it out of context. The obvious situation occurs when "too little" information is provided. People will naturally come to their own conclusion of what is not said and that perception will become reality.
Recently I've been discussing this very situation with a good friend of mine about both too much and too little information being provided to a group of very age diverse individuals. Add to this the fact that certain words used in communications can have completely different meanings (both good and bad) to people of different ages and how in the world to communicate effectively to all?
I used to struggle with this very issue daily, especially given my nature as a talking thinker, people would assume I had already made up my mind about something and was just trying to get everyone to come to my way of thinking when in fact I was verbally "processing" my thoughts. It was why my dive into the world of Organisational Change Management (that was introduced to me by a former colleague) was so important and impactful. One of the biggest failures in any organisation when undertaking a major project, initiative, or operational shift is understanding clearly the impact of change on the masses (or the few) and effectively coming up with a clear and concise communication strategy which most importantly includes a key stakeholder engagement strategy.
This issue of poor Organisational Change Management is most evident when you are talking about a multi-generational organisation where people come to it with different backgrounds, education, life experience, work experience, beliefs, etc. All of these things can provide vastly different perspectives on anything communicated to them. The one common thought they all share however is "how will this affect me and what I care about?" The problem is when you try to communicate the same way to vastly different groups you end up with one of them (or many of them) drawing their own conclusion about "what this means to them" and this is when the trouble starts. Therefore it is important BEFORE YOU START to really sit down and think about what your different stakeholder groups care most about and then map those issues/areas into your communication strategy for each of those groups. The groups might be different departments, regions, or age groups, they might be education based, they might be occupations based. In an organisation like a Church or other Charitable Organisation it can be all of the above.
Key to this communication strategy will be direct engagement of key "influencers". These are the people in a specific group that others within the group look to for guidance, advice and general acceptance. In cases where someone doesn't necessarily understand what is being done/proposed/etc. they will look for the reaction of that key "respected" individual within their group. If that person is accepting of the change typically those people will accept it as a good thing because they trust this individual.
So remember, when undertaking change, not everyone understands what you are saying, or are listening to what you think you are telling them. Make sure you have a feedback loop, a communication strategy and that you engage key stakeholders who can become your champion because without them...STUFF HAPPENS!
I often think about this as I write because emails or blog posts or documents can convey words but not emotions or intent. Many people on Facebook or other mediums post their feelings or what they perceive to be their feelings only to have others "mis-interpret" their posts completely.
In the same vein company or organisational leaders in an attempt to provide transparency or inclusiveness (is that a word?) to the employees or members of an organisation can, without intending to, create a bigger issue for themselves just with the use of a misunderstood word in a communication. The same holds true for providing "too much" information. When individuals receive information overload their brains naturally seek out those things they understand and in many cases they will make presumptions about the rest of the information or take the information they process and put it out of context. The obvious situation occurs when "too little" information is provided. People will naturally come to their own conclusion of what is not said and that perception will become reality.
Recently I've been discussing this very situation with a good friend of mine about both too much and too little information being provided to a group of very age diverse individuals. Add to this the fact that certain words used in communications can have completely different meanings (both good and bad) to people of different ages and how in the world to communicate effectively to all?
I used to struggle with this very issue daily, especially given my nature as a talking thinker, people would assume I had already made up my mind about something and was just trying to get everyone to come to my way of thinking when in fact I was verbally "processing" my thoughts. It was why my dive into the world of Organisational Change Management (that was introduced to me by a former colleague) was so important and impactful. One of the biggest failures in any organisation when undertaking a major project, initiative, or operational shift is understanding clearly the impact of change on the masses (or the few) and effectively coming up with a clear and concise communication strategy which most importantly includes a key stakeholder engagement strategy.
This issue of poor Organisational Change Management is most evident when you are talking about a multi-generational organisation where people come to it with different backgrounds, education, life experience, work experience, beliefs, etc. All of these things can provide vastly different perspectives on anything communicated to them. The one common thought they all share however is "how will this affect me and what I care about?" The problem is when you try to communicate the same way to vastly different groups you end up with one of them (or many of them) drawing their own conclusion about "what this means to them" and this is when the trouble starts. Therefore it is important BEFORE YOU START to really sit down and think about what your different stakeholder groups care most about and then map those issues/areas into your communication strategy for each of those groups. The groups might be different departments, regions, or age groups, they might be education based, they might be occupations based. In an organisation like a Church or other Charitable Organisation it can be all of the above.
Key to this communication strategy will be direct engagement of key "influencers". These are the people in a specific group that others within the group look to for guidance, advice and general acceptance. In cases where someone doesn't necessarily understand what is being done/proposed/etc. they will look for the reaction of that key "respected" individual within their group. If that person is accepting of the change typically those people will accept it as a good thing because they trust this individual.
So remember, when undertaking change, not everyone understands what you are saying, or are listening to what you think you are telling them. Make sure you have a feedback loop, a communication strategy and that you engage key stakeholders who can become your champion because without them...STUFF HAPPENS!
Bellingham Half-Marathon - Training Day 16
So in truth my 16th training session was actually yesterday but I didn't get around to posting until now...
Well it's been 4 weeks since my last post and it has been a tremendously busy month. At the end of June I travelled to Bangladesh to meet with a prospective client and on the way home I got food poisoning which put me in the hospital in Hong Kong for 2 days. That little episode cost me 1 weeks training (missed all 4 runs that week). However I am happy to say that since I have returned home I have completed 9 straight training runs and am now full on into my training for the race.
Each day I feel stronger, my speed is being relatively maintained as I go further and further distances however with each passing run my average heart rate continues to go down. This means I am getting stronger cardio-vascularly and I expect that to only continue to get better as I keep training. Right now I am averaging speeds on my runs that would allow me to complete the half-marathon in under 2 hours and 30 minutes which is my goal for this race.
My average heart rate over my last 9 training runs is sitting 12 bpm less than what it was for the Eugene half-marathon I ran in May while my average speed is up almost half a mile per hour over what it was at this stage of my training for Eugene. I am feeling particularly good about this especially given the fact that due to all the vacation and business trips I had in March/April this year in advance of the Eugene race May 2nd, I only got in about 55% of the training runs I had scheduled for that period of time. If I can maintain my current commitment to my training through race day, that is just going to make me that much stronger this time around.
On another good news front, my lovely wife Cheryll has decided that she is going to walk the Bellingham race and has started her training for it as well. This is something that makes me very happy as it gives us something else that we can do together (albeit I will run and she will walk but I'll be at the finish line cheering her on!). She was inspired in some part by our new friends Jim and Sue whom I raced with in Eugene. They are speed walkers (and I mean "Speed") who are in their 60's and are two of the most amazing people I know. Jim is a real inspiration to me and I hope that when I am his age I am running races as strong as he does.
On the weight loss front, I have lost almost 25lbs. in the last 6 months. I don't see it obviously day in day out but others who don't see me all the time notice it. Plus while I have only lost 25 lbs. overall I have definitely lost more lbs of fat then that. Last night our family went to a movie and met my sister and her daughter there and when my niece saw me she says "Uncle Mike look at you, you have lost a lot of weight!". Now I haven't seen her in about 6 weeks but if it is that noticeable what I have lost in 6 weeks I guess I'm going in the right direction.
I'm still not worrying overly about my nutrition as we usually eat fairly healthy (movie theatre popcorn last night being an exception not a rule) but I am watching it carefully. They say you don't want to lose too much too fast when you are training and I can understand why, however if I can maintain a 1 lb. a week or so average weight loss then I think I am doing ok and will be able to maintain that loss in the long run. I still have 35 lbs. to lose to get back to where I was before I joined World Vision but I will get there this year and then look out as I continue to work my way down to my ultimate weight goal.
Next week I am leaving on a roughly 2 week trip to Toronto, Manila and Phnom Penh and that is going to be a true test to my training commitment but I really believe I am up for the challenge as even though I made this crazy journey to Dhaka, Bangladesh I got my training run in in Dhaka even when the hotel gym's air conditioning wasn't working properly and I was running 33 plus degree heat (and humidity).
I can't express how much encouragement I get from family and friends comments when I post updates on facebook and here but it is those encouraging words that keep me going and make me realise that I can have an impact not just on my life but on others as well. Oh yeah, my former assistant from WVI, Megan is also going to be racing in Bellingham and I'd like to think I had a little to do with that (ok maybe all my nagging her about coming and running it with me was a part of it!). Megan will likely kick my butt on race day (she is 15+ years younger than me) but I am ok with that, it just gives me something to shoot for in my next race!
Right now I am planning on running Bellingham and then another half-marathon race sometime in January before running the Eugene Half-Marathon again next May. I will start to run shorter distance races in the midst of my training (5 and 10k's) but my focus will always be on the "big" races. As I get stronger I will race more often but at this point I would like to do a minimum of 4 big races a year. People have asked me about whether I am going to run a marathon and right now my answer is I don't know about the future but I will not run one until after I run next years Eugend Half as I want to do a direct comparison about the difference in me one year later over the previous year's race. Not just in how fast I can run but where I am at physically, spiritually and emotionally. Then and only then will I consider whether I even want to run a full marathon. 13.1 miles (21.08 km's for those of you who think metric) is a LONG distance, and I may just be happy racing that distance for the rest of my running days. I suspect I won't and will want to challenge myself further but that is 10 months down the road and a lot can happen in that time.
Well, my insomnia seems to be waning and I need to get more sleep so will sign-off for now. Thanks for continuing to read my thoughts and I'll "talk" to you next time.
Mike
Well it's been 4 weeks since my last post and it has been a tremendously busy month. At the end of June I travelled to Bangladesh to meet with a prospective client and on the way home I got food poisoning which put me in the hospital in Hong Kong for 2 days. That little episode cost me 1 weeks training (missed all 4 runs that week). However I am happy to say that since I have returned home I have completed 9 straight training runs and am now full on into my training for the race.
Each day I feel stronger, my speed is being relatively maintained as I go further and further distances however with each passing run my average heart rate continues to go down. This means I am getting stronger cardio-vascularly and I expect that to only continue to get better as I keep training. Right now I am averaging speeds on my runs that would allow me to complete the half-marathon in under 2 hours and 30 minutes which is my goal for this race.
My average heart rate over my last 9 training runs is sitting 12 bpm less than what it was for the Eugene half-marathon I ran in May while my average speed is up almost half a mile per hour over what it was at this stage of my training for Eugene. I am feeling particularly good about this especially given the fact that due to all the vacation and business trips I had in March/April this year in advance of the Eugene race May 2nd, I only got in about 55% of the training runs I had scheduled for that period of time. If I can maintain my current commitment to my training through race day, that is just going to make me that much stronger this time around.
On another good news front, my lovely wife Cheryll has decided that she is going to walk the Bellingham race and has started her training for it as well. This is something that makes me very happy as it gives us something else that we can do together (albeit I will run and she will walk but I'll be at the finish line cheering her on!). She was inspired in some part by our new friends Jim and Sue whom I raced with in Eugene. They are speed walkers (and I mean "Speed") who are in their 60's and are two of the most amazing people I know. Jim is a real inspiration to me and I hope that when I am his age I am running races as strong as he does.
On the weight loss front, I have lost almost 25lbs. in the last 6 months. I don't see it obviously day in day out but others who don't see me all the time notice it. Plus while I have only lost 25 lbs. overall I have definitely lost more lbs of fat then that. Last night our family went to a movie and met my sister and her daughter there and when my niece saw me she says "Uncle Mike look at you, you have lost a lot of weight!". Now I haven't seen her in about 6 weeks but if it is that noticeable what I have lost in 6 weeks I guess I'm going in the right direction.
I'm still not worrying overly about my nutrition as we usually eat fairly healthy (movie theatre popcorn last night being an exception not a rule) but I am watching it carefully. They say you don't want to lose too much too fast when you are training and I can understand why, however if I can maintain a 1 lb. a week or so average weight loss then I think I am doing ok and will be able to maintain that loss in the long run. I still have 35 lbs. to lose to get back to where I was before I joined World Vision but I will get there this year and then look out as I continue to work my way down to my ultimate weight goal.
Next week I am leaving on a roughly 2 week trip to Toronto, Manila and Phnom Penh and that is going to be a true test to my training commitment but I really believe I am up for the challenge as even though I made this crazy journey to Dhaka, Bangladesh I got my training run in in Dhaka even when the hotel gym's air conditioning wasn't working properly and I was running 33 plus degree heat (and humidity).
I can't express how much encouragement I get from family and friends comments when I post updates on facebook and here but it is those encouraging words that keep me going and make me realise that I can have an impact not just on my life but on others as well. Oh yeah, my former assistant from WVI, Megan is also going to be racing in Bellingham and I'd like to think I had a little to do with that (ok maybe all my nagging her about coming and running it with me was a part of it!). Megan will likely kick my butt on race day (she is 15+ years younger than me) but I am ok with that, it just gives me something to shoot for in my next race!
Right now I am planning on running Bellingham and then another half-marathon race sometime in January before running the Eugene Half-Marathon again next May. I will start to run shorter distance races in the midst of my training (5 and 10k's) but my focus will always be on the "big" races. As I get stronger I will race more often but at this point I would like to do a minimum of 4 big races a year. People have asked me about whether I am going to run a marathon and right now my answer is I don't know about the future but I will not run one until after I run next years Eugend Half as I want to do a direct comparison about the difference in me one year later over the previous year's race. Not just in how fast I can run but where I am at physically, spiritually and emotionally. Then and only then will I consider whether I even want to run a full marathon. 13.1 miles (21.08 km's for those of you who think metric) is a LONG distance, and I may just be happy racing that distance for the rest of my running days. I suspect I won't and will want to challenge myself further but that is 10 months down the road and a lot can happen in that time.
Well, my insomnia seems to be waning and I need to get more sleep so will sign-off for now. Thanks for continuing to read my thoughts and I'll "talk" to you next time.
Mike
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