Pedicab

Pedicab
Livin the dream

Friday, March 15, 2013

“Instant Gratification takes too long.” - Carrie Fisher


I have been here before. The beginning, the grand plans, the joining up for this and signing up for that and buying the special what not. What has done me in in the past is impatience. Wouldn't it be great to get diet and exercise results at the same rate (and with the same ease) as you gain weight and go to pot?

Becoming a BFG was soooo easy, even wonderful. I love food, and movies and food and doing nothing, and did I mention food?



I always want to be further along in the plan than I am. My mind can see the end so I want it now, without the work. It's all this effort and work getting in the way.

I have trouble with waiting, and with applying myself over time toward a goal. I can visualize the end result so completely that it seems already achieved. I want to be there NOW!

That's what happened last time. In 2008 I pushed too hard, I had not even run a 5k yet but decided to tackle an outdoor 10k and blew out both knees. Awful experience, almost enough to put one off exercise altogether.

Since then I've been sedentary to say the least. I needed a plan to get from the couch to a first milestone on my way to the Iron Man 70.3. So I did a Google search for from the couch to running a 5K and found the site.... wait for it.... Couchto5k.com or C25K. It has training plans, advice support links to runs... everything to get me from C25K. I love America, it gave me everything I needed to gain it (all you can eat buffets, $10 delivery pizza deals, discounts on ice cream with my Kroger card) and everything I need to lose it. 'merica man whooo hoooo!

America the land of weight loss opportunity.

It's like the planets have aligned, the sun is shining and the choir sings. It's like the world wants me to do this. It's overwhelming. I feel like a poker player getting “hit with the deck” I feel blessed.

I didn't realize all the help available online for BFG's. Training plans, diet logs tied into calorie counts for every restaurant and brand name food product in America, support groups, programs that upload info from your smart phone's GPS to your training log. How can one not succeed?

Of course I'm a guy without a decent 401K but have all the tech toys of couch potato-hood. A smart phone with an unlimited data plan, an Android Tablet with the same, high speed internet at home and work and everywhere I go, Netflix, HuluPlus and the secret media available only to the digital denizens of the Pirate Bay. So I can catch up on Downton Abbey or watch the latest episode of House of Lies while on the treadmill.

Oh it gets better.... see I drop my wife off at work in the morning at 6:30am. Her employee parking lot it like a half mile from her area of the hospital and saving her a schlep in the cold by dropping her off at the door is the least I can do. But where I drop her off is also a few yards from the best gym in my city. And because of her employment I can join, cheap. So I'm already at the gym EVERY DAY at 6:30am, no excuses.

I made it to the gym today and took it slow. Walked for 25 minutes on the treadmill and did a 15 elliptical session. The rule of thumb is to warm up 30sec for every year old that’s 24 minutes for me. So in a week or two my cardio may last as long as my warm up. But not today and I'm ok with that.

So gonna work up to a 5k from a sitting start. It should take about 8 weeks and I should be about 30lbs lighter by then as well.

Here's the link for the plan www.couchto5k.com

In November I'll need to start triathlon training in earnest and we'll tap BeginnerTriathlete.com but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

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