One of my in-real-life friends, Ashlyn, has now lost over 100 pounds twice. She’s done it without surgery either time, just through good old hard work with exercise and diet. You can see her story–the second time around–in this video hosted over at Bill Phillips Transformation. Ashlyn’s struggle highlights a few things, one being that […]
I’ve discussed training schedules and books and all kinds of other things when it comes to getting into shape (although not so much about controlling your diabetes–that’s coming) and while all of that is useful, the ultimate lesson I learned was this: there is no substitute for hard work. There are days like today when […]
I work two jobs–your typical full time Monday through Friday 8:30-5 deal (with the twist of working weekends and holidays four to five times a year) plus a class I teach on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. To fit in workouts, I need to do a lot of them in the mornings–at least two bike rides […]
Rain days are one of the things totally out of my control. I woke up on Sunday morning to do a ride before 5 am and found it raining and wet. There wasn’t a lot I could do but go back to sleep. Flake days, however, are much more in my control. Despite the fact […]
Interestingly, for a single day, I had a serious blip in my weight–I’ve been between 183 and 185 for awhile now, and suddenly, one day I was up to 190. The only thing out of the ordinary was I had to buy dinner on Wednesday night while on my way to my class rather than […]
Creaky. That’s how I feel when I’m rolling out of bed. I would like to say that things were better when I was younger, but realistically, I don’t remember ever not being creaky, back to high school. I’m sure it had everything to do with being heavy. I was far from the most athletic kid. […]
I’m an awful runner, but I’m an even worse swimmer, and that’s despite living on an island in the middle of the ocean with near perfect weather. I don’t know if that will change, but in the last couple of weeks a couple of my coworkers and one of our former interns have decided we’re […]
Editor’s note: this entry was written before yesterday’s entry, “What 40 Miles Looks Like”. How much of getting into shape is psychological rather than physical? My guess is that it’s about 75% psychological and only 25% physical–if not closer to 100% psychological. Yes, you have to physically exercise to get into shape, so it’s not […]
It’s a Sunday. I traded training days this week–instead of doing my long ride on Saturday and my midlength ride on Sunday, I did my midlength ride on Saturday and I’m doing my long–this time, 40 miles–ride on Sunday morning. It’s also a day when I want to go to Sunday morning service (starting at […]
Early on, small signs of progress are encouraging. In the beginning, when you’re struggling, very small things show progress. Being able to ride your bike for an hour rather than half an hour can be a huge deal. When I started running, being able to run an hour without stopping–or later, walking rather than stopping–was […]