As a follow up to my post, Conquering Self Doubt, I started to think about how I got to the place I’m at today…
I had a great conversation yesterday with two friends from my Rotary club. One of them, Tim, is starting a blog with accountability as the theme. He has some fitness and business goals and will use the blog to achieve them. One of his first fitness goals is the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. Tim has never run more than 3 miles and the Broad Street Run is 10. I’ve committed to running the race with Tim. Now we’re both accountable to someone. That means that we’ve got to keep training lest we face some serious abuse!
My other friend, Debbie, feels the same fitness struggle that a lot of us feel or have felt. She’d love to do yoga more, she’s worked with a personal trainer but then slipped away from the training, she does a bit a P90X… Like many of us she feels the time pressures of running a successful marketing business, service pursuits including Rotary, and having a personal life.
While the three of us chatted over lunch we wound up boiling the problem down to taking a first step. Tim and I had been at a seminar the previous Wednesday that included a personal trainer, nutritionist, weight loss coach, and chiropractor titled, 2010: Year of the Healthiest You. One of their key messages? Take one step today, take another tomorrow, etc. Maybe that means parking farther from the office, maybe you start trying to get sugar out of your diet, maybe you start the morning with a few basic exercises at home, maybe you add a new vegetable into your diet. Whatever that first step is, take it. If you start your new Healthy You plan by throwing out all of your junk food and getting up and heading to the gym at 5am everyday, you’re probably going to fail.
My first steps started last January with a weight loss contest with a friend. I started watching my food intake and worked out a bit. I did spin classes once or twice a week, I swam every once in awhile, I’d hit the gym a couple times a week. I didn’t start the journey with a hardcore lifestyle change. And, for me, the change stuck. I ran my first ever 5k last Memorial Day weekend. Since I was also swimming and biking I thought that maybe I’d find a triathlon close by. I picked up Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week
The small first steps have kept me going and have let my fitness continue to improve. My goal over this winter was to clean up my diet and lay down my first planned base miles since about 1987. I’m keeping myself on track by signing up for events with friends.
With friends engaged I get back to Tim’s idea of accountability. I’m doing the 101 mile Gran Fondo San Diego on March 7 with two old cycling friends. I’m accountable to them (and to myself). If I’m flying to the other end of the country for a bike ride I better be prepared! (Come to think of it, I’m accountable to my wife for this, too. I better finish because I don’t want to tell her I went away without her and didn’t finish the ride!) After that is the Doylestown Duathlon on April 10. Two friends plus some of the folks from the Tuesday morning running group are doing the race. At the end of April I’m heading to Duathlon National Championships with one of the guys doing the Doylestown Du with me. The week after that is the Broad Street Run with Tim.
There’s a lot more on my calendar but you get the point. I have events on the schedule to keep me motivated and people to whom I’m accountable. Make those first steps. Find a friend to take the journey with. Clean up your nutrition a bit at a time. Sign up for your first 5k or first triathlon with a friend. Take another step toward a healthier you everyday.
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This Tim guy seems to be on to something!