It’s been a while

I stopped posting about my progress at the end of last year. It’s kind of difficult to pick up again after stopping for a while. At first it was “I’ll do it tomorrow”. Tomorrow became next week. Next week became next month and before I knew it SIX months had gone by.

Here’s a QUICK update about nothing specific just to get going again. 

The great news is that simply because I stopped writing about my progress I didn’t actually stop my activities. 

I’m glad I listened to suggestions about bundling up during the cold weather and go outside. I was running during snow storms and it was great 🙂

I’ve kept up with my jogging regimen until I twisted my ankle during a jog at night; not very smart. 

I’ve gone out on the bike every chance I get. I’ve been increasing my distance and speed. This year I’ve been out 33 times and have done over 800 miles. The most miles I’ve ridden in a single day alone was 80 miles. I’ve also gone out a few times in group rides which are a ton of fun. 

I’ve picked up a few other activities too. This year has been a year of many firsts. Things like yoga. Things like Zumba. Things like spinning class. 
All in all this year has been pretty  awesome. 

Until next time 🙂

Delayed

I started to write this post last week. It was going to be all about how the weather was terrible the entire week, cloudy and wet was the title, but I still managed to go  out 5 times which is just shy of my new goal but it’s better than my previous weekly goal. I think being active 5 times a week might be a happy medium for me. 

This week was much better weather wise. So I changed the title to Sun! I sat on the draft the entire week! The good news is that this week will also be a 5 activity week. 

Cloudy & Wet – Last week the weather pretty freaking crummy. It was dark and cloudy, rainy, cold and windy! This week it got better. 

I’m walking on the sand right now and I’m determined to finish this entry before something else comes up and delays me even more. Life happens. 

Weekly Update #11

Last week was the slowest in months. Last Friday I woke up with pain between my back and chest. Felt as if I had pulled something. I had some trouble moving and breathing at times. 

Monday my friend and I went out for an easy walk at Deer Island, 2.7 miles. We jogged up some hills, but we walked most of the peninsula. 

Friday I went out on the bike and completed 25 miles. My body was complaining for the last 10 miles. Saturday I was feeling pretty damn sored. I suppose it’s to be expected when I took a full week off from the bike. 

The good news is that my chest and back pain are gone.

Saturday my brother and I decided to take the boat on the water for a couple of hours. The sea was pretty damn choppy for some reason, but it was lots of fun. 

Lucas is home! Vero, Jose and Lucas left the hospital on Tuesday evening. 

That’s pretty much the week. 

Some of the issues that have risen can be discouraging but I have to make sure to remind myself why I’m trying to get healthy in the first place and push myself when I’m down to keep going.

Thanks for reading. 

Padrino

So it’s Monday, August 15, 2016. Lucas Oliver says hello to this world and brings so much joy to our family. I wish every baby came to this world the way Lucas did. Everyone in the family from his mom and dad side were so excited for his birth.  

He is a big boy, measuring 21 inches and weighing in at 9 pounds and 8 ounces. And it was a natural birth. God bless you Vero. Both Mum and Baby are doing great. Jose, my brother and baby’s father is so happy and proud. I know both of you are great parents and Lucas is fortunate to have you both in his life. 

I feel honored to have been asked to be Lucas’ godfaher. Lucas, I promise to love you as a father. 

Lucas welcome to our family. We love you so much and can’t wait to play with you and see you grow. We’re lucky to have you in our lives.

Weekly Update 3

Time flies when you’re running 🙂 This has been a fabulous week for me! It’s the first time I write down weekly goals and  better yet I’ve achieved pretty much everything on my on it!

I’m going to be mentioning Mike a lot in this entry and the reason is that he was participating in a step challenge at his job and I walked with him to help him get at least 20 thousand steps a day to help him place top 10. 

Highlights from the week:

1. I’ve achieved all the goals in my list for the week. 
2. I lost 7 lbs this week which brings my weight loss to a grand total of 20 lbs since I got active 3 months ago. 
3. Pena 5K – I reduced my time by two minutes since last week, finished it in 28 minutes and 23 seconds. This is my personal best at Deer Island  ever. 
4. Ran Deer Island without stopping. One of my main goals was to run the this course without stopping. I can check that one off the list now.

Breakdown of the week:

Monday – Mike and I walked 8.5 miles in the evening. We walked from work to the train station where I leave my car. 

Tuesday – I ran 4.11 miles at ungodly hours in morning, ungodly for me! In the evening Mike and I walked 5.75 miles at the lovely heart break reservation in Saugus. It’s a beautifully scenic and hilly course. 

Wednesday – I ran 2.5 miles in the morning and walked 7.5 miles in the evening with Mike. We went from Downtown Boston to Cambridge, then to Somerville, then to Everett. 

Thursday – Pena 5K @ Deer Island. I walked around the course once to warm up before running it. 

Friday – Ran 3.75 miles in the morning and 9+ miles in the evening with Mike. I didn’t start the tracking app on time, so I missed he first 30ish minutes of walking. 

I have only one goal for the weekend: DON’T GAIN ANY WEIGHT. 

I usually gain a few pounds during the weekend. I spend a lot of time at my parents’ house. There’s always so much deliciousness everywhere!

This week I was telling Mike about it during one of our long walks and because he’s a numbers guy he simply commented that I was ‘losing one third’ of my weight lost. That somehow set things to a different perspective. I don’t want to lose 33% of anything! And that’s what I had been doing for ever. Some weekends I would gain all the weight back during the weekend.

I’m extremely pleased with the progress this week and intend to keep it going next week and into the foreseeable future.

Thanks for reading.

Beard is going away soon

What? Four entries in one week? What’s this madness?!

I typically let my beard grow for about a month or two once year. No rhyme or reason when or why I grow it; same is true for when or why it comes off.

This time is a little different than previous years. First, I got this salt and pepper thing going on, I kind of like it! Secondly, the beard was coming around the same time when I determined to change my lifestyle back in April, three months ago.

I’ve lost 15 lbs thus far. I’m thinking I’ll shave if off when I lose 20 lbs. Then I’ll start growing again at my next 20 lbs mark in another four to six months.

But I reserve the right to change my mind  when I grow it again before the weight restriction.

Although it would be yet another motivator to keep working … Mmmmm

I didn’t run or jog this week

I blame my dress shoes for the pain I was experiencing on my heel. According to my coworkers I have ‘plantar fasciitis’. I had to look up what the heck it was.

Plantar fasciitis refers to irritation of the plantar fascia where it attaches to the heel bone and runs along the bottom of the foot — Google

Still means nothing to me!

I decided to change my strategy. I wanted to rest my heel but I didn’t want to stop.

Soooo my solution: walk ALOT this week!

Monday here in the US we celebrated Memorial Day. I tried my normal routine and jog along the beach. I did my normal 30 min couch to 5k program. Then i kept walking along the entire length of Revere Beach, total I walked 5.5 miles.

Tuesday my heel was bothering me more than the days before. I tried walking for a while. It just happened I need to go to the Apple Store to look at my phone, the battery has been acting up. I also had to have my headphones replaced. I walked to the store. It’s only about 2.5 miles from my job.


It was a nice walk. Once I was done, I had the option to take the train to my car OR walk to my car which was a 5.5 mile walk from the store. I opted to walk to my car.

On Wednesday my heel was feeling a lot better.

My buddy Mike and I decided to go for a walk after work. We ended up walking for over two hours, 8.5 miles.

‘The Garden’ and the Zakim Bridge

Boston Skyline from East Boston and the Tobin Bridge

Legoland in Simerville

Thursday is when we, friends and family do our Pena 5K, but I skipped the running and had a leisurely walk around Boston instead. I walked with my Mike again. This time we walked around some newly developed areas around Boston. It was beautiful.

Piece of the Berlin Wall

Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown

Friday I didn’t do anything. I had a chance to spend some time with family visiting from my country. We went bowling and played on the arcade. It was a lot of fun. Lastly I went over to my brother’s to help him setup for Saturday’s BBQ.

On Saturday we celebrated my sister law’s baby shower. The day was beautiful and the while thing turned out great.

This coming week I’m planning to get back to the normal routine.

Thanks for reading!

What’s Working for Me?

Changing old habits is extremely difficult. The only time I can claim I was ‘fit’ was during my last two years of High School. I was in the my school’s fútbol & track team; I also played on a local fútbol club outside of school; lastly I would roller blade everywhere!

When I was in school and physically active I would eat ALL kinds of junk food and it didn’t matter simply because I was young and involved in sports.

Upon graduating high school my physical activity also graduated to non-existent, but my diet stayed the same. Bad combination!

My weight gain was gradual for the first five years; then it just got out of control and before I knew it I was the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life!

I’m fortunate I didn’t have a life threatening experience that made me realize I had to change my life. One day I simply woke up and didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. It made me realize that if I’m still young; that I should get healthy; that I want to play with my grand children when the time comes; that I work hard to be financially stable as I get older, but being financially stable won’t help me if I’m dead.

Sooo here I am writing about the changes I’ve made and I’m planning to make in my life to turn old bad habits into new good habits.

Below are some of the things that are working for me.

Consistency -Since I’m in the early stages of working out/getting active, I’m trying to keep the momentum and motivation going by not missing more than one day between activities. If I jog or run and I’m tired the next day, then only walk and take it easy, but DO something.

Make Time – Time is our most precious resource. We all have responsibilities and a million other things that need to be done yesterday, but you’ll have to make time for your health and wellness. Perhaps don’t watch that one hour episode of that mediocre TV show; maybe you can drop a bad habit that consumes time and replace it with a better habit. I add ‘exercise/run/jog/walk’ to my calendar. It helps me to get mentally prepared. Lately it’s also getting me excited to plan what activity I’ll be doing later.

Music – Good tunes will go a long way. I love my reggaeton playlist. It helps me forget that I’m ‘working’. It helps me to keep a faster pace. It helps me stay active longer. I’ve also tried listening to audio books while I walk, it does the job.

Variety – I’m so extremely fortunate to be surrounded by so many places to run, job, or walk. Close to work I have the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston Common and Charles River. Close to my house I have the beach, parks, and walking trails.

Running Clothes & Shoes – I found that having running ‘outfits’ tell your brain it’s time to go. My ‘outfit’ – running shoes, socks, sweatpants, and sweater. Now that the weather is warm I’ve replaced the sweatpants with shorts and sweater with a dri-fit t-shirt. It’s a simple trick that gets me in the ‘get active’ mind frame.

Tracking Apps – I use three apps for different purposes. Runkeeper tracks my overall number of activities, total distance, and total time. Couch to 5K is slowly building my endurance, stamina and speed. Fitbit tracks my steps, stairs, and heart rate through out the day.

I have to note that an advantage to walking around Boston is that I’ve discovered some cool new areas around Beacon Hill. Here are a couple of pictures. 

Any suggestions or routines you use to get you going will be greatly appreciated.

 

End of Month Update

This has been my most productive month activity wise ever! I suppose it’s easy when I’ve only been consistently tracking  for two months.

I use Runkeeper to track my activity. This month I logged 18 activities and 53 miles vs 10 activities and 27 miles last month.

I also use the Couch to 5K application for the first 30 mins. I walk/jog/run as much as I can after.

I was reminded by SlowRunnerGirl and my friend who is a marathon runner that I shouldn’t focus only on speed. Today I ran the couch to 5k routine slower than other days but felt good at the end.

Next on the list: Sleep. I’ve been trying to go to bed earlier than my regular midnight+ bedtime. I’ve set a goal of going to sleep by 11pm at least 4 nights a week. To help with the early bedtime I’ve also committed to removing the TV from my room. I’m determined that my bedroom will be for sleeping and sex; not in that order!

Next on the list: Diet. The good news I haven’t gained weight. The bad news I haven’t lost weight in over a week. I haven’t been watching what I eat as an experiment. I wanted to see if exercise alone would make me lose some weight. I found the answer: NO.

Run related purchases:

• New shoes – Brooks 13
• Running soxs
• Running boxer briefs
• Running Hydration Pack
• Fitbit Blaze – I’d like to determine my base heart monitor, then I increase intensity or distance as my body adjusts to the exercise.

Thanks for reminding!

Shedding toxic elements

Most of us have that friend, relative or partner who seems to drag you down and never let you grow. They are leeches that can suck all the fun and happiness out life.

Bad relationships like bad habits and other toxic elements in life are not easy to drop.

There’s one person in my life that I need to drop quicker than a bad habit. Maybe it’s simply a case of the devil you know or perhaps it’s simply out of habit. 

Now with the positive changes I’m making in my life I don’t want her to derail me from my path.

I made the decision to change my life not long ago. Toxic relationships are next in my list of changes. I know it won’t be easy but it has to be done.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results – Albert Einstein