Friday, September 21: 1.1 miles
I continued to run on the day that I claimed I would go running. As it stands, my next running day is tomorrow, Monday the 24.
I believe I can make this day. I get out of work at 4:30 (new job), and have a meeting at 7p (phone meeting). So between the time I get out of work and have my meeting I should be able to go runningthe 1.1 miles. I should also, during this interval, be able to continue progress on the sit-ups regiment: that is, if I don't already succeed in my increments in the morning.
Running on Friday felt a bit more sluggish than on Tuesday. I felt I either overstretched before I went out, or didn't stretch enough. Chances are I overstretched as I was only going for a one mile run. Conditions were a little humid, and I have been a little stuffed up lately with the lingering effects of what was almost a cold, so that could have contributed to the less than Olympic pace. It is also possible that my body is rejecting the notion that two days of rest between intervals are sufficient. However, it is just one mile.
I felt my stride was positive, especially when considering the slight incline at the beginning of the loop. It is only a one mile loop, and it is not a major incline, but enough so that it could effect my pace and stride since I am so out of shape... for me. There exists a happy medium where one should lengthen one's stride when running up hill, and simultaneously slow one's pace, so that when the terrain levels off, one can more easily adjust one's pace. But there also exists the possibility that if you lengthen your stride, you use more energy too early, and by the end of the loop, your pace is affected due to a "rabbit" effect.
This is something will concentrate on as I intend to continue this loop for at least two more weeks. I am debating that after two or three more weeks of two days' rest, if I will add a longer loop for one of the days I run, in addition to the three, so that my running schedule would look like this (1.1 - 2-2.5 - 1.1), or if I should continue with the same distance, but increase the intervals to every other day (1.1 - 1.1 - 1.1 - 1.1). The distance run per week would be roughly the same.
Well, let's get through the next few weeks first.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sit-ups, before and after
Saturday, September 22: nine
Sunday, September 23: ten
This time I was negligent on the posting of my progress. I suppose that's better than not doing the sit-ups at all.
Sunday, September 23: ten
This time I was negligent on the posting of my progress. I suppose that's better than not doing the sit-ups at all.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Running program
Tuesday, September 18: 1.1 miles.
Two days after I originally intended on going running again. Felt slight twinge around left shin, as if the beginnings of a shin splint. Possibly due to running too fast too quickly. Began to lengthen stride and to slow down pace at this point.
Felt I kept a continuous, consistent pace, with good stride, and good upward knee movement during small incline. The key to running up hills, or small inclines is to propel your knees upwards and to lenghthen the stride, but to slow down the pace, so you are not wasting more energy, the upward movement of the knees, will assist in propulsion, which will help iin maintaining pace and stride. ALso important to propel arms at the same time. Try running with your arms still at your sides: it puts more strain on your legs.
Next scheduled running date: Friday, September 21: 1.1 miles.
Two days after I originally intended on going running again. Felt slight twinge around left shin, as if the beginnings of a shin splint. Possibly due to running too fast too quickly. Began to lengthen stride and to slow down pace at this point.
Felt I kept a continuous, consistent pace, with good stride, and good upward knee movement during small incline. The key to running up hills, or small inclines is to propel your knees upwards and to lenghthen the stride, but to slow down the pace, so you are not wasting more energy, the upward movement of the knees, will assist in propulsion, which will help iin maintaining pace and stride. ALso important to propel arms at the same time. Try running with your arms still at your sides: it puts more strain on your legs.
Next scheduled running date: Friday, September 21: 1.1 miles.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Anger Motivation
As mentioned in the last post, I had started to get away from the discipline of the intent of the sit-up regimen: to increase my sit-ups daily by an integer of one. I started to skip days, and to not increase my sit-up quantity until later in the day. In short, I started to lack discipline, which is part of the reason why I started the sit-ups regimen. Many endeavors I undertake, and are currently undertaking, have fallen by the wayside, or have been addressed with minimal or with inconsistent efforts. As a result, I have not progressed in these endeavors as well as I would like. To help stifle this pattern, I decided to start something that would require a minimal, but increasing effort, each day, something that would, once firmly entrenched as part of my daily rituals, require no more than a few minutes of my time, and at the onset would only require a few seconds of my time. If I couldn't maintain the focus and discipline to accomplish this meager of all accomplishments, what could I accomplish?
This mentality has begun to pervade into other arenas lately --financial, creative, career, education-- and has been for quite some time really. As part of the last email, I decided to abandon the number of sit-ups I had attained due to this lack of discipline, this malaise, until I could determine a day of significance, symbolic. I had originally thought of starting Setpember 10 -my girlfriend's birthday- but realized that I wouldn't be choosing this day for myself, and would be associating her birthday with something that was significant only for myself. Granted, the more I can pull myself out of a lifespin, the better it would be for her, as my general disposition would increase, not that she has been witness to any major alterations in my disposition, outside of frustration, and my affection toward her has not wavered as a result of my own spinning wheels. However, once one improves their own standing, it has the result of improving everyone they connect, and everything connected to them already. So, I decided not to start on her birthday.
I thought about restarting the sit-up regimen the day after her birthday: September 11, but realized that I didn't want my sit-up discipline (and to an extent, my newfound ambition) to be connected to a day that is already frought with symbolism, some necessary, some good, some bad. (I have my own ambivalent feelings about September 11, which I will address at a different time, in a different entry, on a different venue.)
Coincidentally, this week I became angry. About a month ago, I left my job. I did not want to be there any longer, nor could I stand to be. I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew that as long as I was working at a job that kept me unfulfilled, that dragged down my career, and personal ambitions daily, that it would be harder for me to get motivated to fulfill those goals once I returned home from work. I did not have a job lined up as a replacement; I was jumping off the edge of the mountain without a parachute; well, with a parachute, but with a landing place that may or may not have been too far in the distance. I was taking a chance. I wasn't jumping blindly as a did have a plan, a long-term plan. I just didn't have a short-term plan. But I knew that at best, I could survive for a little over a month without a job, or with a part-time job, which is what I have at this point, and have had when this adventure began. That grace period is just about up.
What made me so angry was that a couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity for a job within my chosen career path. I was to hear back from this position after my interview and skills tests/assessments. It has been two weeks. The person I interviewed with went on vacation the week after my assessments, without notifying any of my agents. Yesterday, I heard back and the interviewer had still not returned from vacation, and that the supervisor did not know much about the position, or the process, and seemed to believe that the position was not needed at this time. Being a firm believer in karma, I went against my own judgement the week earlier, and started telling people what my agent had told me: that the position was all but mine, and they were just waiting to hear back from the interviewer, but that they would have heard back by now had they not had an intention of bringing me aboard. Since the position had not been officially confirmed, I should not have mentioned anything to anyone at all, but given my excitement and the assuredness with which my agent had shared the news with me, and given my own predilection for wanting to progress events faster than what reality dictates, I told people that I pretty much had the job, and was waiting to hear the official version once the interviewer returned from vacation. I apologize, karma, for violating your tenets.
Understandably I became angry. This development also coincided with the purchase of a new car, something that I had been putting off for a while, though it was needed at the beginning of the month. I purchased a car I thought was sound, but after today's inspection, it was determined that the fixes made to the car before purchase by the seller were not sound, and that the car needed much more to pass inspection than the seller had let on. Or the parts they used to repair the car were not of a sound value, resulting in the diagnosis of my mechanic that the car is not driveable. I am now in a dispute with the seller to recover some of the expenses paid for their attempts at repair, in order to recover some of the repair costs I am to incur next week.
This has contributed to my anger.
Two of the biggest motivating factors in my life have always been anger and fear. Well, these events have stirred the anger, and have stirred my own sense of malaise and false starts. I am angry, I am motivated. I started the sit-ups regiment earlier this evening. I have used this anger as a motivating factor not only for the sit-ups regiment, but for many other abandoned projects and ambitions as well: career, education, etc. For example, note the length of this entry, and fervor with which it has been written.
I also started another ambition which had long been squashed by the increasing reins of torpidity: I went running tonight. When I was much younger, I claimed that I wanted to finish a marathon before age 35. That age is approaching within two years. A few years back, before I turned 30, before I moved to New Hampshire, I started training for the running of a marathon, the Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska. As always, I jumped in too quickly, and developed flesh rippingly painful shin splints, which occur when one attempts to run more and faster than the body is ready to handle. I should have known this about myself, as I experienced them with frequency early in my running days. They occured with less frequency the more my body got used to running, but unfortunately, they are an ailment that cannot be run through. One cannot run through the pain.
Anyway, Saturday night I was home watching TV, and saw a travel program about Alaska. This resurrected in me the long stagnant dream of wanting to run a marathon, a dream that my girlfriend would jokingly prod me with every once in a while ("Hey, didn't you say you wanted to run a marathon by 35? Better get going."). Tonight I went running. One mile. Nothing earth-shattering. The beginnings of another regiment that I had already formulated in my head. I enjoy running, but realize my tendencies to bite off more than I can chew too quickly. I realized that if I was to work my body back in to shape, I should do small intervals a few times a week. This was a training schedule I had decided upon earlier in the summer, maybe even late spring. However, it is difficult to continue this type of training without a goal in mind. Running a marathon was a goal, but there was no concrete goal I was striving for, no specific marathon, no specific date. Shadowy figures and ethereal shapes are hard to hang one's hat on. (How's that for a mixed metaphor?) The Alaska program evoked in me the idea of running that specific marathon: the Midnight Sun Marathon. It also would serve a dual purpose, as I could travel there, we could travel there, as the girlfriend and I love travelling and visiting new places. (This year alone: Montreal, Barcelona, Paris, small trips to Newburyport, Boston, other tiny adventures.)
So, I have started running. Running also serves the purpose of motivating me. I love running, and feel lethargic went I don't run regularly. Unfortunately, I can't sustain the motivation to run regularly.
I restarted the sit-ups regiment earlier this evening.
I restarted the long train for the Alaska Marathon.
I restarted the intent to reach my career ambitions, and to start creating something for myself.
I am angry. It feels good.
This mentality has begun to pervade into other arenas lately --financial, creative, career, education-- and has been for quite some time really. As part of the last email, I decided to abandon the number of sit-ups I had attained due to this lack of discipline, this malaise, until I could determine a day of significance, symbolic. I had originally thought of starting Setpember 10 -my girlfriend's birthday- but realized that I wouldn't be choosing this day for myself, and would be associating her birthday with something that was significant only for myself. Granted, the more I can pull myself out of a lifespin, the better it would be for her, as my general disposition would increase, not that she has been witness to any major alterations in my disposition, outside of frustration, and my affection toward her has not wavered as a result of my own spinning wheels. However, once one improves their own standing, it has the result of improving everyone they connect, and everything connected to them already. So, I decided not to start on her birthday.
I thought about restarting the sit-up regimen the day after her birthday: September 11, but realized that I didn't want my sit-up discipline (and to an extent, my newfound ambition) to be connected to a day that is already frought with symbolism, some necessary, some good, some bad. (I have my own ambivalent feelings about September 11, which I will address at a different time, in a different entry, on a different venue.)
Coincidentally, this week I became angry. About a month ago, I left my job. I did not want to be there any longer, nor could I stand to be. I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew that as long as I was working at a job that kept me unfulfilled, that dragged down my career, and personal ambitions daily, that it would be harder for me to get motivated to fulfill those goals once I returned home from work. I did not have a job lined up as a replacement; I was jumping off the edge of the mountain without a parachute; well, with a parachute, but with a landing place that may or may not have been too far in the distance. I was taking a chance. I wasn't jumping blindly as a did have a plan, a long-term plan. I just didn't have a short-term plan. But I knew that at best, I could survive for a little over a month without a job, or with a part-time job, which is what I have at this point, and have had when this adventure began. That grace period is just about up.
What made me so angry was that a couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity for a job within my chosen career path. I was to hear back from this position after my interview and skills tests/assessments. It has been two weeks. The person I interviewed with went on vacation the week after my assessments, without notifying any of my agents. Yesterday, I heard back and the interviewer had still not returned from vacation, and that the supervisor did not know much about the position, or the process, and seemed to believe that the position was not needed at this time. Being a firm believer in karma, I went against my own judgement the week earlier, and started telling people what my agent had told me: that the position was all but mine, and they were just waiting to hear back from the interviewer, but that they would have heard back by now had they not had an intention of bringing me aboard. Since the position had not been officially confirmed, I should not have mentioned anything to anyone at all, but given my excitement and the assuredness with which my agent had shared the news with me, and given my own predilection for wanting to progress events faster than what reality dictates, I told people that I pretty much had the job, and was waiting to hear the official version once the interviewer returned from vacation. I apologize, karma, for violating your tenets.
Understandably I became angry. This development also coincided with the purchase of a new car, something that I had been putting off for a while, though it was needed at the beginning of the month. I purchased a car I thought was sound, but after today's inspection, it was determined that the fixes made to the car before purchase by the seller were not sound, and that the car needed much more to pass inspection than the seller had let on. Or the parts they used to repair the car were not of a sound value, resulting in the diagnosis of my mechanic that the car is not driveable. I am now in a dispute with the seller to recover some of the expenses paid for their attempts at repair, in order to recover some of the repair costs I am to incur next week.
This has contributed to my anger.
Two of the biggest motivating factors in my life have always been anger and fear. Well, these events have stirred the anger, and have stirred my own sense of malaise and false starts. I am angry, I am motivated. I started the sit-ups regiment earlier this evening. I have used this anger as a motivating factor not only for the sit-ups regiment, but for many other abandoned projects and ambitions as well: career, education, etc. For example, note the length of this entry, and fervor with which it has been written.
I also started another ambition which had long been squashed by the increasing reins of torpidity: I went running tonight. When I was much younger, I claimed that I wanted to finish a marathon before age 35. That age is approaching within two years. A few years back, before I turned 30, before I moved to New Hampshire, I started training for the running of a marathon, the Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska. As always, I jumped in too quickly, and developed flesh rippingly painful shin splints, which occur when one attempts to run more and faster than the body is ready to handle. I should have known this about myself, as I experienced them with frequency early in my running days. They occured with less frequency the more my body got used to running, but unfortunately, they are an ailment that cannot be run through. One cannot run through the pain.
Anyway, Saturday night I was home watching TV, and saw a travel program about Alaska. This resurrected in me the long stagnant dream of wanting to run a marathon, a dream that my girlfriend would jokingly prod me with every once in a while ("Hey, didn't you say you wanted to run a marathon by 35? Better get going."). Tonight I went running. One mile. Nothing earth-shattering. The beginnings of another regiment that I had already formulated in my head. I enjoy running, but realize my tendencies to bite off more than I can chew too quickly. I realized that if I was to work my body back in to shape, I should do small intervals a few times a week. This was a training schedule I had decided upon earlier in the summer, maybe even late spring. However, it is difficult to continue this type of training without a goal in mind. Running a marathon was a goal, but there was no concrete goal I was striving for, no specific marathon, no specific date. Shadowy figures and ethereal shapes are hard to hang one's hat on. (How's that for a mixed metaphor?) The Alaska program evoked in me the idea of running that specific marathon: the Midnight Sun Marathon. It also would serve a dual purpose, as I could travel there, we could travel there, as the girlfriend and I love travelling and visiting new places. (This year alone: Montreal, Barcelona, Paris, small trips to Newburyport, Boston, other tiny adventures.)
So, I have started running. Running also serves the purpose of motivating me. I love running, and feel lethargic went I don't run regularly. Unfortunately, I can't sustain the motivation to run regularly.
I restarted the sit-ups regiment earlier this evening.
I restarted the long train for the Alaska Marathon.
I restarted the intent to reach my career ambitions, and to start creating something for myself.
I am angry. It feels good.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Sit-ups: 24
24
Note: Considering starting anew, as I, as evidenced by the lack of daily progress, have lost the discipline to dedicate myself to the daily rigors of this exercise. I have re-dedicated myself to this practice, but, if I were dedicated to it from the start, I would be close to 50 sit-ups, as of this date.
What better way to show your rededication than to start afresh?
I will continue on with the progress I have until a new starting date can be determined.
Note: Considering starting anew, as I, as evidenced by the lack of daily progress, have lost the discipline to dedicate myself to the daily rigors of this exercise. I have re-dedicated myself to this practice, but, if I were dedicated to it from the start, I would be close to 50 sit-ups, as of this date.
What better way to show your rededication than to start afresh?
I will continue on with the progress I have until a new starting date can be determined.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sit-ups regime
Quick personal interjection:
A mathematician friend of mine had a New Year's Resolution, except he didn't call it a New Year's Resolution. He called it an "assessment for self-improvement" or some such thing: it had the phrase self-improvement, or 'ways I can improve myself.'That's it: Attainable goals for self-improvement. His reasoning for not using the word resolution was that people always choose ridiculously unattainable goals for themselves for New Year's Resolutions:"I'm going to learn how to fly this year.""This is the year I'm going to grow wings.""This is the year I finally run for president.""That's it: I'm going to read three books per week, and not watch any tv all year long." Later that month, with the season premier of Laguna Beach, however...So, his attainable goal was to lose weight. But he didn't like pain, and he didn't want to incur any residual pain afterwards. The day after running, for instance, when you have to pick up your thighs with your hands in order to walk up the stairs. So, he theorized that he could do one sit-up per day. One sit-up certainly wouldn't hurt. And since the first day he was able to do one sit-up, the next day he would be able to do two sit-ups, because his body would have been used to one, and he would have built up resistance. The third day, he would do three sit-ups, and so on. He told me of this resolution on day 183. By this point he was doing sit-ups in intervals of 25 to 50, because 183 consecutive sit-ups would defeat the purpose of no pain.Now since 183 sit-ups can seem rather boring, he has altered it a little, by adding push-ups to the regimen. As of the day of telling me of his intentions, he was at 33 push-ups. I could be wrong. He is probably close to 245 sit-ups as I write.I have decided to adopt this regimen. I determined to start when I returned from vacation, which was July 17. I have not been as disciplined as Lee; today is day 18. Obviously, I have missed some days.Due to this lack of discipline, every day that I follow through with my intention, I will post that number.All entries corresponding to this exercise will be transferred and hereon chronicled on a separate log.(It might be interesting to bury the number in a story and make you, my beloved fans, search for them. But that would require readers.)
A mathematician friend of mine had a New Year's Resolution, except he didn't call it a New Year's Resolution. He called it an "assessment for self-improvement" or some such thing: it had the phrase self-improvement, or 'ways I can improve myself.'That's it: Attainable goals for self-improvement. His reasoning for not using the word resolution was that people always choose ridiculously unattainable goals for themselves for New Year's Resolutions:"I'm going to learn how to fly this year.""This is the year I'm going to grow wings.""This is the year I finally run for president.""That's it: I'm going to read three books per week, and not watch any tv all year long." Later that month, with the season premier of Laguna Beach, however...So, his attainable goal was to lose weight. But he didn't like pain, and he didn't want to incur any residual pain afterwards. The day after running, for instance, when you have to pick up your thighs with your hands in order to walk up the stairs. So, he theorized that he could do one sit-up per day. One sit-up certainly wouldn't hurt. And since the first day he was able to do one sit-up, the next day he would be able to do two sit-ups, because his body would have been used to one, and he would have built up resistance. The third day, he would do three sit-ups, and so on. He told me of this resolution on day 183. By this point he was doing sit-ups in intervals of 25 to 50, because 183 consecutive sit-ups would defeat the purpose of no pain.Now since 183 sit-ups can seem rather boring, he has altered it a little, by adding push-ups to the regimen. As of the day of telling me of his intentions, he was at 33 push-ups. I could be wrong. He is probably close to 245 sit-ups as I write.I have decided to adopt this regimen. I determined to start when I returned from vacation, which was July 17. I have not been as disciplined as Lee; today is day 18. Obviously, I have missed some days.Due to this lack of discipline, every day that I follow through with my intention, I will post that number.All entries corresponding to this exercise will be transferred and hereon chronicled on a separate log.(It might be interesting to bury the number in a story and make you, my beloved fans, search for them. But that would require readers.)
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