Gave the “About Me” section a bit of a tweak. Give it a gander and tell me what you think.
http://notjustseattle.com/about/
Hope everyone enjoyed the delightful weather this weekend. It was a great time to be outdoors.
Category: Random
The tyranny of the scale
Just weighed myself. To my horror, I’ve gained 6 pounds! Huh? I’ve been diligent about taking my calories, having solid confidence in my data. My pants are another belt notch tighter. I can see better definition in my upper body. “How could I have slipped”, you might ask. My answer: it’s more complex.
Besides running and cycling, I’m into taekwondo. Actually, martial arts is my primary fitness activity. And that’s the main complicating factor. Recently, I’ve focused heavily on core training. My abs, arms and back have been worked hard. I was frustrated by failing to get past ten pushups. And I’m getting results. I can do more, way more pushups and crunches. But muscle weighs more (pet unit volume) than fat. Thus, significant muscle growth often gains weight faster than fat loss will lose it.
So many folks’ single health metric is weight. Really, we should add other pieces: arm, leg, chest size, distance, time, weight lifted, etc… All of these are more important measures of fitness. And, if fat loss is the goal, then BMI.
My goal is better health, to grow fitter. More pushup capacity, to be able to run with joy, and greater endurance with my running and cycling. Over the next year or so, I want to ride the Seattle to Portland, run a 5k, increase my flexibility and crank out more pushups than the twenty-year-olds in my taekwondo studio.
That will serve me better than simply focusing on weight. And my vision is long-term.
Morning Weather
Though it’s a bit unusual for this time of year, I’m enjoying the grey skies this early AM, followed by the sun-shiny afternoons. Perhaps odd to some, grey skies are something I enjoy. They’re calming, tranquil. Yet, I understand why some find them depressing. I love that and mists moving through the trees.
It’s the little things, I guess.
This Upcoming Weekend
As a parent, you get to have these zany birthday weekends. Tonight we’re going to Red Robin, tomorrow to a friend’s backyard, and then Sunday we’ll be spending several hours at the Lynnwood Pool. Cake and pizza in extreme, I’m sure. Fortunately, the back-to-back pool parties might give a chance to explore the other elements of the fitness center. I’ve seen the space via pictures and from the street. So, maybe, I’ll get in there and explore the space. Burn off some of those zillons of calories.
I’ll also try to fit in a ride or run (or two).
Healthy Living : Changing Lives
I remember reading Scott Cutshall’s story a little while back (read it here). My thoughts on running, fitness, and all that over the past few days brought it back to the front of my mind. Part of what connected me was his journey, but not just the effectiveness (massive weight-loss). No, what really struck me was a simple truth: he gained health by finding something he loved and letting it pull him along. I’ve long felt the way to a healthy life was to find something physical that you loved. That, even was dripping sweat, feeling exhaustion, facing your next appointment, you keep thinking “can I squeeze just a few more minutes?”
Passion, joy, that’s really what makes this happen. Go and find yours!
More Running Thoughts
Yesterday I had a brief post about a new online community for runners. A side note was about my attempts to recapture my love of running. Running, now, is a significant amount of work. 20 years ago, it was fun; meditation in motion. I thought about it and hit one key thought: weight.
I weighed about 175 in my running/cycling heyday. When I started reclaiming this lifestyle, I hit 208. Now at 194, things are more pleasant. But those 20 pounds will still affect my feelings. I’m sure that getting my weight closer to an ideal will really help. And getting my fitness level up will, too.
The other thing I noted: a lifetime of terrible eating habits. Since I lived physical activity and would run/bike for hours, I never paid attention to what I are. At the point in life, eating a good diet is crucial to accomplishing my goals. Actually, I think I need to focus in a great diet.
My fitness tracking tools show a nutrient breakdown of my diet. Truly, it’s sad how pathetically few nutrients I get from food. I need to take a multivitamin to get crucial elements. I want to develop a diet that gets me my fully nutrient load, while also not jamming me full of sugar.
Clearly I have work to do.
GeekWire Summit 2013
Any of you folks going to GeekWire’s 2013 Summit in September? It looks like a key event for local tech folks, innovators and the like. I’m not sure if I’ll pony up the cash, but it might be worth it.
What do you think?
New Running Online Community
Over the past few months, I’ve been working hard to get my fitness level back up. Years ago, I was a hard-core runner and cyclist, with many hours/miles logged. Though I’ve slipped on cycling, it’s still a regular part of my life. However, running has not.
Back then, there was a zen quality to running and cycling. Now, cycling still has that quality. Running, however, is simply work. There are moments, when I run, that I feel my mind slip away into the rhythm of my cadence. Moments, fading into work.
Having accountability, connection, makes the return to this level of fitness much more fun. So, seeing on GeekWire that Brooks and MapMyFitness have started a new community makes me feel good. Run Happy looks like it might really add something to the fitness community. I look forward to seeing how this evolves.
The All Powerful Snooze Button
Laying here listening to my wife’s alarm go off, I’m struck by a significant societal shift which took place during my lifetime: the snooze bar.
I remember a world where these things didn’t exist. That your alarm clock rang once a day. Heck, you needed to remember to arm the thing before you went to sleep. I suppose some folks rewound the clock and moved the alarm hand forward a few minutes. But most didn’t. Ring, then up; no other methodology existed.
Now, we tend to gradually awaken. With smartphones and such, you can choose pleasant tones to gently rouse you from slumber. Speaking for myself, my alarm starts earlier, with a more gradual waking process.
I’m not sure what, if any, deeper effects have been brought about by this. Something to explore. It’s hard to imagine that a significant shift in a culture’s circadian rhythm won’t have some larger impact.
A Story of Epilepsy and the Power Of Love
The Story Collider podcast has become a deeply integrated into my psyche, and my life. I stumbled upon the series via Radiolab. On my commute today, I listened to Sara Peters and Peter Aguero’s story about Sara’s epilepsy. This was very well done: by the end I felt connected to them.
So, I highly recommend you spend a few minutes of your life watching the video below (the podcast was recorded at TedMed 2013, so, thus, you get video). Your life will be the better for it.
(It wouldn’t be a bad idea to subscribe to Story Collider, too. Just sayin’.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRqqRFr5ceQ&w=560&h=315]