Operation 26.2 2008
My Name is Earl Shelby(Chicka Fila's husband). I am 35 years old, 5'8" tall (with shoes) 290 lbs (dry weight). Over the past decade, I've been assailed by responsibilities (job, children, wife, etc...), good living (great job, wonderful children, lovely wife, and amazing ecetera's ), and a lack of motivation when it comes to exercise and staying healthy.
About 2 years ago I had a friend run in his first marathon, and the thought of completing such a daunting task piqued my interest. Then about six months ago I had another friend complete her first marathon, and I wondered, "Is somebody's trying to tell me something?" Finally, my wife informed me of Tia plan to gather a team and run in the Las Vegas marathon, and I thought, "Well, you don't have to tell me twice!" So after mentally coming to terms with the physical effort needed to pedestrianate and or run for 26.2 miles, I accepted the challenge and then sat down and devised a 3 phase 2 pronged attack ( Engineers tend to over analyze at times) for successful completion of the Las Vegas Marathon.
Phase One - Bringing Sexy Back Make exercise a habit. I read somewhere it takes 30 days to make something a habit. So the first step is to commit to 30 days.Before I retired my Pimp Status, and when my Player's Card was still active (all of this is pre-Katrina of course:) ), I exercised every day. If I didn't work out my whole day felt wrong. Step two is to rekindle that magic, minus the pimp stuff of course. Although when I do bring sexy back the women are going to be all up on me, but Trina is just going to have to come to terms with that!
Phase Two - Getting Healthy Exercise is only one component to Operation 26.2 2008. Another major part is nutrition, and it will be the focal point of phase two. But don't be crazy! I am not about two wake up and start eating tofu and salads. Getting healthy is much more complicated than that. I like to eat and I like good food, junk food, and lots of food. So I'll break this phase into two levels. The first is to try and stop eating after six and definitely no solids after eight. I will also severely cut back on the soda's. Also in support of level one I will first focus on portion control. Instead of a double whopper w/cheese add bacon large combo, I'll just get a whopper w/cheese and some water (maybe a few fries). And I will gradually work towards throwing a salad in there somewhere.Exercise is critical to Phase two as well. Now that exercising is a habit, varying the types of physical activities will go a long way to staving off boredom and keeping you motivated.
Phase Three - Define Goals What is successful? Set "realistic" goals. Not only define the ultimate goal to cross the finish line after running/walking for 26.2 miles, but also set monthly, weekly, and even daily goal. December is a long way off. So use your goals to motivate and pace yourself, and you won't fail because you couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel or you lost sight of the ultimate objective.
So I boiled my 3 phased mission down into 3 keys to success for a quick motivation fill up:
1. Vary your training - Motivation will die in a vaccum of boredom.
2. Invest in your goals - Money Motivates. Tia alluded to this at one of the meetings. Investing capital will compel you to action. So I am buying a bike, some running shoes, a good watch, a pedometer, a heart rate monitor, some clothes, a headband and an external hard drive! 3. Partner for Success - If someone else is depending on you being there, you are more likely to go.
End of Week Status:
(05/02/2008)Operation 26.2 2008 got off to an inauspicious start this week. I only managed to work out 3 days out of the week and the effort was lacksadasical at best. That is all I have to say about that! (
05/09/2008)This week my efforts equalled my desire. I trained 5 days out of the week. I ran a total of 2 and one half miles and walked for 15 and a half miles over the course of the entire week. I also did some cross training which included some weight lifting and 1 hour on the elliptical machine. I had a lot of aches and pains and had to be extremely careful not to overdue it. My achillies tendon has been whuppin' my ass! I am also having to stretch my calves a lot more, and when I finish my half mile run, it feels like my lungs want to crack open my ribs and just leave! Unfortunately, the nutrition part was only half as successful. I manage to keep all my meals before 8 and the majority before 6 but I didn't cut back on the soda's as much as I would like. But I drank more water and juice.
(05/16/2008)One more week and it's a habit. I probably should say two more because of my poor performance the first week. Another 5 day week. I completed a 5 mile walk run in a little more than an hour which I figure will have to be my pace during the race. I was beat to hell though after I finished. I managed to gain a pound which was somewhat discouraging don't now how it happened, but it will not make me falter. The achillies tendon is finally starting to ease up after I sucked it up and started icing it down after exercising. My lungs are still rebelling, but my recovery time is much impoved. I completed 20 1/2 miles of combined running and walking for a total this week, and I really had to work hard to keep from over doing it. It's like I am having just a little gas left in the tank after I finish exercising and it's hard not to just burn it all up!
