Posts Tagged ‘#2011commitments’

As a (somewhat) former journalist, I’ve learned over the years how important it is to ask the simple question of “Why?” It’s an open-ended question that people can’t answer a simple “yes” or “no” to. To get a good answer, though, you have to ask it in an appropriate tone of voice that wouldn’t allow for an answer of “Why not?”

In day 3 of living as a pescetarian, several people have asked me why am I doing this, but it has come across in such a negative way. You know that tone of voice I’m talking about. It’s like I’m being talked down to. It’s a lifestyle choice, whether it’s temporary or permanent. I’m not wearing a T-shirt broadcasting my change, but if I’m going to eat with co-workers there’s no doubt the topic comes up.

In a way, I think it shows the unhealthy state of our society. You never hear anyone in an office setting get questioned for bringing in doughnuts. If you do, it’s usually a high-pitched, excited, thankful tone of “Why did you do that?” “Ah, because I thought we deserved it after a stressful week!!”

Nobody ever questions why someone supersizes their meals or why there’s a candy dish or why they’re drinking a Coke instead of water.

I don’t want to be taken the wrong way here — I know that it’s my choice and I’m going to continue with it no matter what. Why am I doing it? Because I can. Because I want to do something different. Because I want to eat healthier. Because I need to eat different stuff. Because … well, you get my point.

I think that sometimes no matter what our food choices are, we should all take a step back and question it ourselves. At your next meal ask yourself “Why?” in a calm non-condescending voice and you may find that you’ll want to change, too.

This is sort of a continuation from yesterday’s “Time to move on” post. In the past few days I’ve been doing much more thinking than I usually do. January has no doubt been a good month with getting my running back on track, but I’ve realized that not having clear-cut goals have left me feeling a bit lost.

These past couple of months have been a much needed break from having goals, but that being said, I have felt like I don’t have a sense of direction not having some sort of monthly goal set up.

With one month of 2011 down, it’s time for me to get focused again on a lot of things. When it comes to running, I’m not going to set any big-time goals for February. I’m still in recovery mode, so I want to keep things going one run at a time. I also plan to keep doing more core work and cross training a couple of times a week. It’s something I’ve slowly started, but want to get more consistency.

It may seem like I forgot about it, but February’s goal is related to eating: going meatless. I first want to thank my Twitter followers for introducing me to the correct term for the month since I will still be eating fish: I will live February as a pescetarian. Like any big-time race, I wonder if I’ve prepared enough. Fortunately my wife is planning on doing this with me, so this shouldn’t be a problem. It should be … interesting. I’ll certainly blog more about it as the month moves along.

As for other goals this year, I have some things in mind that I’m not going to put out there yet. I have some ideas for “comeback” races; I have PRs I’d like to set; I really want to do another month-long streak; and I want to have a defining “big” race this fall. At this point in time though, I just want to get through the next four weeks remaining pain-free before I get too far along. No guarantees that I won’t make any announcements though.

I’ll take maintaining my weight over a gain any day. I’m ending the month as I began it: 188.8 pounds.

I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t take more initiative to eat less. I think I’m going a good job of eating better … I just need to eat less. I’m looking forward to my changes in February. Much more on that soon.

189. I’d still say that’s maintenance, especially since if I rounded my numbers that’s what all three weigh-ins this year would be anyway. It’s become a month of maintenance for me in many regards. As I slowly get back into running, things are starting to feel somewhat normal … like a maintenance stage. I kind of need it.

My love affair with cows and chickens will soon be coming to an end and I think with that my maintenance frame of mind will start to change as well. Plus, I hope, the weather will warm up at least a few degrees soon and these nights that I feel really lazy will go away too.

As I slowly say good-bye to meat for a while, and when I have a weekend like last weekend with a bunch of cow involved and very little exercise, I don’t expect my weight to change too much.

This week was 188.6, a mere 0.2 drop from last week. Rounding it off, it’s the same weight as last week. But hey, a loss is a loss, although that could simply be a pair of underwear or something.

I feel like this guy:

No, my wife and I haven’t had this conversation (yet), but I’m mad at myself: 188.8 pounds. Yeah, I said something last month about getting back to the 170s, but got all excited after reading a couple of people’s blog posts without thinking about that goal. Could I have hit it? Yes. But I wasn’t dedicated enough to get there. With dealing with my ITB injury and feeling the need to relax for the first time all year, I just didn’t do it and instead gained a few pounds. Nothing but bad excuses.

I will not set a numbers goal again. I just want to feel better about myself and about my weight — whatever that “end” number is doesn’t matter. I have to make some changes to my diet and exercise or else I’m going to continue to beat myself up on these weekly posts. It’s hard to write about, but I’m glad I’ve made this my first commitment of the year.

Note: After my first “Commitment” post I have since decided to drop the Roman numeral title idea and will now go with titles similar to above.

Just like last year, I have started the year off with no clear cut goals, mainly due to injury concerns. Having dealt with injuries in previous years, I wanted to set the 1,000-mile goal early last year, but I waited a while before going public with it. I had to get through the Shamrock Half injury free before committing to running 1,000 miles. It had been a while before I really thought long-term with setting my goals.

If you have followed me long enough you can probably see my pattern: while shooting from the hip (“31 in 31,” getting to the 170s in December, making lists of foods to not eat right away) I don’t do very well, but when I set a long-term goal or a goal a few months out (April streak, 1,000 miles, Richmond Marathon) I do fairly well. Last year I set my goal of the April streak in February. I needed to prepare myself for it mentally, as well as physically, to continue running after Shamrock. And of course the marathon goal was a year in the making — perhaps too long term. (Sometimes I wonder if I would have gone for the Baltimore Marathon or the Marine Corps Marathon if I would have been OK.)

This brings me to thinking a lot about 2011′s goals. I have to do what works for me — setting goals well ahead of time, but also ones that make sense. In another words, SMART goals — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, Timely. I have them in my head, but I don’t like lists. Every time I’ve made a list of goals, something happens. For the first time in forever, I made a race schedule last year only to have things fall apart when I got sick and had a DNF.

My recent ITB injury has me fearing injuries again. Setting a goal for a PR in a half marathon is just crazy talk right now. It’s not even a realistic goal not knowing how long I’ll be away from distance running, not that I’m giving up hope for doing Shamrock yet. For now, though, I have to put running goals to the side and do some other things. That’s why the #2011commitments tag will last throughout the year and is about more than just running.

So for the second “Making the Commitment” post, I’ve decided that February 2011 will be a “meatless” month. That’s right, no meat.

I’m not going to go vegan on you — I still will have fish and eggs. Just no steaks or burgers or pork or chicken. Why? I want to do something different with my eating. I feel stuck in a rut. No burgers. No beef burritos. No New York Strip (not that I actually eat steak very often).

Why February? Well, it is the shortest month of the year. If I stick with it afterward, then fine. If I don’t, then so be it. What happens after isn’t as important as getting through those four weeks of change and committing to it.

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

COMMITMENT
a pledge or promise; obligation

RESOLUTION
a resolve or determination

I’m so tired of hearing people making “resolutions.” It’s interesting to note that dictionary.com’s meaning of resolution is “a determination.” Yes, we’re all determined to do new things come Jan. 1, but it’s not a promise. It’s not a pledge. It’s not a commitment.

And that’s what I want to do throughout 2011 — make commitments. The other day on Twitter I posted something similar to this and I got a great response. There are lots of people out there ready to make commitments … but I think they missed my point. Yes, you’ve signed up for a certain race or made it a goal to run 1,000 miles in the year — those are goals. How you get to those goals is where the commitment comes in.

My eagerness to make 2011 the year of commitments comes from my own failures learning experiences this month. At the beginning of the month I was determined (or shall I say resolved) to get my weight back to the 170s. It’s just not happening. Part of why it’s not happening is because I mentioned it once, got halfway through the month just fine and then just fell apart with my diet and have gotten lazy in the past week. A complete lack of commitment.

While I will continue to not focus on an end number, I am going to commit myself to including my weight once a week on my blog. My commitment is to weigh myself Thursday and Friday and take the best of those numbers and post it at some point every weekend. So that being said, my first official 2011 weigh in will be Jan. 6/7. (Having lost weight before and knowing the evils of a scale, the two weigh-ins work well. I’d hate for a big meal the day before to ruin a week for me.)

This is just the first of many commitments. I’m not making a punch list, but instead will make this a year-long thing. As part of making commitments, I will use the #2011commitments tag on Twitter throughout the year and use that same tag for related posts here. You may have noticed a slightly different title to this post using a Roman numeral. My commitment to making commitments will be to occasionally blog using the same title to keep the theme going.

I don’t want this to fall apart in a few weeks; I’d like to take the best of the best of these posts and reflect on them a year from now. Whether I use that title 5 times or 20 times will be determined, but expect to see the tag used quite often.

So who’s in? This isn’t a Twitter challenge or something to report to me weekly on, but I welcome anyone who wants to use the same title or tag on Twitter.