Sooooo I haven't updated this in a good long while. I really need to change that bad habit. I can't promise I'll update every day (with life being what it is) but I'll try to make it a little more frequent.
Plenty has gone on since my last post. Amongst the most significant developments is the fact that I joined Dailymile in early January. I have never before been a part of such a warm, friendly and supportive online community as this one. This fact alone is so refreshing given all of the cynicism and negativity that can be found elsewhere. I've probably participated more here in just the last ~2 months than pretty much everywhere else combined. I'm naturally quite shy and reserved even online, so I give Dailymile a lot of credit just for helping me come out of my shell. I really have made a lot of wonderful new friends there.
Dailymile has also encouraged me to train smarter. Before DM I was just running without much of a plan, which I suppose is better than nothing. Now I'm able to draw inspiration and ideas from various members of the community that are helping me to train better and smarter. For example, thanks in large part to Alicyn's core workout streak, I've started one of my own. I already feel like that's done me a lot of good fitness-wise already. But really, I look at all the workouts people there post and think "hey, that looks fun/interesting, I think I'll give it a try!".
So back to this blog...it's pretty much going to be focused on my running exploits, but don't be too surprised to see a random nerdy post creep in from time to time. And no, you won't hurt my feelings if you skip those posts :p.
So thanks again for reading, and I hope everyone has a great day!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, October 29, 2010
1st Post - Health and Fitness Musings
Hello there, and welcome to my blog that I hope to maintain with at least some consistency. Not sure what it's really going to focus on yet. There probably won't be any focus at all knowing me :p. But in any event, thank you for taking the time to read this.
I've been thinking a lot lately about my fitness and nutritional goals. Through most of my childhood up through my first year of college, I struggled greatly with my weight. Well, perhaps "struggled" isn't quite the right word; I really never made a real attempt to change my lifestyle whatsoever, even though I knew I had a problem. It got to the point where by the end of my freshman year of college I was wearing size 50 jeans and was pushing 280 lbs. I couldn't stand to look at myself anymore, and this is where it started to click. With my mother's help on the dietary end, I began to exercise regularly. I have to give Tae Bo a lot of credit here for putting me in the right mindset and changing my life. By the end of my sophomore year, I had lost over 100 lbs.
It wasn't all smiles and sunshine, though, as I went from one extreme to practically another, becoming obsessed with my weight. My low point for weight was around 125 lbs, and I was still eating to little and using weight loss supplements like Stacker 2 back when it still had ephedra in it. Then I went to Japan, and almost by accident had another change in perspective. I was so absorbed by adapting to a new culture that I was no longer focused on my weight so much. I'm certain it also had more to do with being more social while I was there; my first two years in college I was pretty much a loner. However, I began overall to be much healthier, and have done my best to maintain that ever since, even becoming a vegetarian (and perhaps an aspiring vegan).
It was in Japan that I discovered how much I liked running, since that was the easiest form of exercise that I could engage in. I've done it off and on over the years (mixed in with a LOT of Tae Bo; Thanks again, Billy Blanks), but it wasn't until just in the last couple of years that I became serious about it. Getting Nike + for my iPod has certainly helped; it's quite a nifty little tool especially for a stat-obsessed geek like me. I ran my first race in November 2008, and have done one every few months since then. For training, I'm up to running about 50-60 miles per week (usually 6 days per week with an off day on Sunday). I reserve Saturdays for my long runs, though I do need to be better about pacing myself since I tend to peter out after around 15-16 miles. My goal is to eventually run a marathon; I might even suck it up and try to sign up for next year's Marine Corps Marathon. Right now, I'm trying to optimize my diet for my running (i.e. a larger percentage of carbs) and the early returns have been promising. I've got a 10k coming up a week from Sunday, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how I do.
Phew...that was a long 1st post, huh? I guess I haven't really talked much about my health and fitness journey, so this is my way of starting to do that. Not every post will be about this, but since this is such an important part of my life it will be a recurring theme.
Thanks again for reading! Any and all comments are welcome :).
I've been thinking a lot lately about my fitness and nutritional goals. Through most of my childhood up through my first year of college, I struggled greatly with my weight. Well, perhaps "struggled" isn't quite the right word; I really never made a real attempt to change my lifestyle whatsoever, even though I knew I had a problem. It got to the point where by the end of my freshman year of college I was wearing size 50 jeans and was pushing 280 lbs. I couldn't stand to look at myself anymore, and this is where it started to click. With my mother's help on the dietary end, I began to exercise regularly. I have to give Tae Bo a lot of credit here for putting me in the right mindset and changing my life. By the end of my sophomore year, I had lost over 100 lbs.
It wasn't all smiles and sunshine, though, as I went from one extreme to practically another, becoming obsessed with my weight. My low point for weight was around 125 lbs, and I was still eating to little and using weight loss supplements like Stacker 2 back when it still had ephedra in it. Then I went to Japan, and almost by accident had another change in perspective. I was so absorbed by adapting to a new culture that I was no longer focused on my weight so much. I'm certain it also had more to do with being more social while I was there; my first two years in college I was pretty much a loner. However, I began overall to be much healthier, and have done my best to maintain that ever since, even becoming a vegetarian (and perhaps an aspiring vegan).
It was in Japan that I discovered how much I liked running, since that was the easiest form of exercise that I could engage in. I've done it off and on over the years (mixed in with a LOT of Tae Bo; Thanks again, Billy Blanks), but it wasn't until just in the last couple of years that I became serious about it. Getting Nike + for my iPod has certainly helped; it's quite a nifty little tool especially for a stat-obsessed geek like me. I ran my first race in November 2008, and have done one every few months since then. For training, I'm up to running about 50-60 miles per week (usually 6 days per week with an off day on Sunday). I reserve Saturdays for my long runs, though I do need to be better about pacing myself since I tend to peter out after around 15-16 miles. My goal is to eventually run a marathon; I might even suck it up and try to sign up for next year's Marine Corps Marathon. Right now, I'm trying to optimize my diet for my running (i.e. a larger percentage of carbs) and the early returns have been promising. I've got a 10k coming up a week from Sunday, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how I do.
Phew...that was a long 1st post, huh? I guess I haven't really talked much about my health and fitness journey, so this is my way of starting to do that. Not every post will be about this, but since this is such an important part of my life it will be a recurring theme.
Thanks again for reading! Any and all comments are welcome :).
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