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The last few weeks have been some of the toughest in my life.
I’ve powered through, though, on adrenaline and because there’s no other option. My mother is in the hospital and must be cared for. I’ve elected to become a “professional” blogger, and I must write to eat. My in-laws, who were in town last week, must be entertained. And through it all, the normal daily routine must continue.
Something had to give. That something has been exercise. I’ve been to the gym three times in the past three weeks. I’ve done two short sessions of aerobic activity (and one longer session, which I’ll describe later). For a while, I was barely doing any stretching.
For the first few days of this crisis, my diet went well. In a way, it went too well. During the three or four days of most intense stress, I had no appetite. I ate very little. But as soon as the pressure eased, my response was to turn to food. I bought a box of Lucky Charms and ate them over two days. I consoled myself with cookies.
I put a stop to this after only a few days, but then I faced other challenges. While Kris’ parents were in town, we ate out for nearly every meal. I’m getting better at making healthy choices in a restaurant, but after almost a week of that sort of lifestyle, I can really feel the change in my body. I feel bloated and gross.
So, it’s been a rocky couple of weeks, but I don’t feel too bad. I still have the mindset of a guy who wants to get fit, who wants to lose weight. I’ve been sidetracked for a while, but things are settling now. Yesterday morning I made a healthy breakfast. I ate well for lunch, too. (I had leftover restaurant food for dinner.) And I’ve resumed exercising.
Things will be okay.
Biking
Last Saturday morning, I finally had a respite from life. “I should go for a ride,” I said. “But all I really want to do is sleep.”
“Go for a ride,” Kris said, “You’ll feel better.”
It took me a long time to get out the door, but I did it. As I pushed down to pedal away from the house, I heard something fall to the ground. When I went back to look, nothing was there.
I biked north to the Springwater Trail, then into downtown Portland. Bike and foot traffic was thick. Portland’s annual food festival was being held along the waterfront, and I had to weave my way in and out of clusters of folks enjoying the mild summer morning.
At the mid-way point of the ride (about mile ten), I crossed the Steel Bridge to head home. As I did, I passed a group of runners coming from the other direction. My heart ached. It was the 4:20 runners from my marathon training group. My group, the 4:30 group, was somewhere behind them. They were doing the run I’d so looked forward to: the first twenty-mile group run and actually on the marathon course. “Next year,” I told myself. “Next year.”
I hoped to see my friends from 4:30, but our paths didn’t overlap. Instead, I headed home. Crossing the railway tracks in Sellwood, something felt strange on my bike. I looked back to see my rear wheel was twisted and rubbing on the brakes. “Yikes,” I thought. I pedaled three miles to he nearest bike store.
Apparently the sound of something falling to the ground at the start of the trip was actually a spoke popping loose. “We can fix that,” the mechanic told me. I also asked that he fix the left shifter, which works on a sort of “when I feel like it basis”. “That’ll take some time,” he said. He has to order parts, which means it may be a couple weeks before I can use my bike again.
Stretching
Since last Wednesday’s physical therapy appointment, I’ve tried to be better about stretching. “How did things go this week?” my physical therapist asked at the beginning of our session. I told her about Mom and about my hectic schedule and confessed I’d done little stretching. She admonished me to try harder, and I have.
Push-ups
Through this all, I’ve been dogged about completing my steps on the one hundred push-ups program. I completed week three, column two last week, and am working on week four, column two this week. Every day I think, “There’s no way I can do this.” But every day I surprise myself.
Final thoughts
I’ve gained three pounds in the past three weeks. Before all of this started, I weighed 187 and was getting readings of 24% body fat from my scale’s impedance sensor. Now I’m at 190 (with higher readings some days!) and the scale tells me I’m at 28% body fat.
So, here I am, eager to get outside and exercise, but unable to run (by orders of the physical therapist) and unable to bike. What’s a fellow to do? Turns out I can still walk! I took an hour walk yesterday, and I’m contemplating a two-hour walk this morning. An if that isn’t good enough, I can always go to the gym and park myself on a stationary bike for a couple hours. (Actually, the 2.75-mile walk to and from the gym would be perfect.)
Finally, a couple of notes:
- I cancelled my Cycle Oregon registration yesterday. I’m not prepared and my bike is out of commission. Maybe next year.
- I’ve resigned myself that I won’t run the marathon this year, but I still might walk it.
- Meanwhile, as soon as my IT band allows, I’ll begin building a slow, constant core running workout into my life: a couple of short runs during the week, and then maybe 8-12 miles on the weekend.
The past month has been crazy for me. I’m ready for some peace, quiet, and especially some routine.
Mac
10 responses so far ↓
1 Andrew is getting fit // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:05 am
I think the beauty of having this blog is that you have to check in and let us know how you are going. This forces you to take stock and identify what’s going on and that helps you to get back on track.
That’s the theory anyway. I hope it works.
2 JFBF // Aug 12, 2008 at 11:20 am
Good luck! When a carefully managed schedule gets thrown out of whack, it’s hard to fit in all of the “usual” activities, and often, by necessity, exercise is one of the first things to go. You’ll get it back, and you have to take it easy on yourself about the missed days. When things get crazy, you just do the best you can!
Does the marathon you were planning to run have a half distance? If I remember correctly, you ran your first 10K a little while ago. Completing a half marathon would still be a big accomplishment, and something to look forward to/train for this year - on your way to the full next year.
3 BD // Aug 12, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I think this line is key: in spite of the serious problems you are facing right now, “I still have the mindset of a guy who wants to get fit, who wants to lose weight.” That’s going to make all the difference.
4 Peter // Aug 12, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Push-ups update: I finished week 4 Column 3! That’s the good news. The bad news is that around the middle of the week my left elbow started hurting. I still managed to successfully finish day 2, but the increase in push-ups was less than expected (+8, instead of the +11 increase for day 1). Day 3 was even worse. Again, I finished it, but I collapsed at a total of 125, only one more than I did the week before (W3D3C3).
Looking ahead to week 5, I’m still filled with a certain amount of dread. How can they expect me to break my record by another 13 push ups, while halving my rest time? For this week, my plan is to give my triceps some rest. This weekend I’ll do another exhaustion test and see if I got any stronger compared to 2 weeks ago (max = 45). Then I’ll start week 5 in column 1, but with double the rest time. I’ll then repeat week 5 with 1.5 times the rest time and after that I should be able to finish the week for good in the allotted time. Ah well, as long as I’m making progress …
5 Christopher // Aug 12, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Sorry if I missed this earlier, but what are you goals?
And why aren’t you lifting!?
Push ups probably aren’t going to do a whole lot to build you a strong and healthy set of legs and a good stable core.
6 DR // Aug 13, 2008 at 6:45 am
`The past month has been crazy for me. I’m ready for some peace, quiet, and especially some routine.`
This may sound a little bit nuts, but when my life gets a little out of control and I feel myself getting stressed, I remember this bit of wisdom from Bruce Lee - Be like water - adapt to your surroundings - don`t stand like stone against the current - go with the flow
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY9rP-QNy5M
Back to the pushups
7 Brigid // Aug 13, 2008 at 8:40 am
Dealing with stress is at the core of leading a healthy lifestyle. If everything falls nicely into place, few people have problems doing the right thing. Once things start to fall apart, it’s easy to find excuses. Some valid - some not so. Did you have to eat out every night? If so, did you have to eat it all? Maybe you could have saved half for next day’s lunch or split the entree with Kris? How much time did you take entertaining the in-laws? Do you think you could have passed some of the entertainment factor off to Kris - they are her folks after all.
Your Mum is in the hospital being cared for by professionals, you have the ability to set your own work hours and you have other family members to help you out. Considering the circumstances - seems like a pretty good deal. Many people don’t have those advantages.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m in no way trying to show you the error of your ways. It’s your life and I see only what is on this website. These are just questions you need to ask yourself before you make a choice. Its easy to wallow in excuses when things don’t go your way. You need to lift yourself out of that muck - it gets easier the more you keep doing it. It’s kind of like weight-training for the brain.
On another note - think of where you would be if you didn’t already have a good start on your fitness program. You’ve come a long way and pulled a few of us along with you - many kudos to you!
Cheers!
8 Scott // Aug 14, 2008 at 12:06 pm
JD-
Thanks for sharing your circumstances. Life’s ups and downs really have a way of throwing us for a loop. How we choose to react to the journey is what makes our life special.
I’m curious, and I’m sure this will be biased from a person who loves to write, How do you think blogging has helped you through this difficult time?
Do you think your journaling your trials and tribulations have caused you to return to your healthy habits sooner or do you think that is just an offset of being more responsible to yourself?
I’m sure its a combination of both. I’ve just noticed recently many early adopters have been migrating away from blogging into twitter, friendfeed, tumblr, and other lifestreaming activities.
I don’t think those activities are as cathartic as blogging.
In my opinion, The actual act of you typing out your story and sharing it with us helps you. Don’t you think? — I’d love to hear a set of posts about that. how blogging has helped create responsibility toward your health (bodily and fiscally).
A Side note on eating out, I am going to have a few days here where I’m going to be eating at restaurants almost 90% of the time. I just researched and wrote about 7 steps I plan to follow to help me eat better at restaurants, they may help you, they may not.
9 Sara // Aug 16, 2008 at 10:53 am
Something else you can do instead of running or walking or cycling - swimming. It’s low-impact, less stress on the joints. Ask your physical therapist about it - it’s been MY favorite form of cardio for the last seven years!
10 A Much-Needed Attitude Adjustment // Aug 21, 2008 at 12:56 pm
[...] last month has been difficult for me, both mentally and physically. My mother has been in the hospital, I’ve been injured, and [...]
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