Thursday, 5 November 2015
Plant Powered Slogger: Set big goals and then fail - happily!
Plant Powered Slogger: Set big goals and then fail - happily!: I set this blog up partly as a way of providing myself motivation on the health/lifestyle/mindfulness path and hopefully someone out there a...
Set big goals and then fail - happily!
I set this blog up partly as a way of providing myself motivation on the health/lifestyle/mindfulness path and hopefully someone out there anywhere reads it and it motivates you too.
Anyway it's been a while since I blogged to this site but some things have happened that have made me realize the importance of setting yourself big goals in life and then not just been OK with failing but celebrating the fact.
Bare with me here.
I used to work for an organisation that set its annual KPI's so low that metaphorically, they were no more challenging than walking out to your letterbox and back. One time a new board member dared to suggest that in addition to these mandated KPI's we should also set some 'stretch targets'.
You should have seen the fear on people's faces. What? You mean we actually strive to achieve something a little hard for ourselves even though there's a chance we 'gulp' fail?
And it struck me recently that with my own lifestyle I had been doing the equivalent, setting vague, mild goals for myself, eat healthier, drink less etc. Trouble is those goals were undefined so success or failure was undefined also.
This last month I did something different, I said that I would half my alcohol intake.
Now here's the thing. I failed.
BUT it's now easily sitting at about 3/4-2/3's of what it was and I can see that the benefits, namely in a bit of weight loss but also in greater migraine control are coming from that.
SO in essence it was good that I set myself a tough goal and failed because in failure I got further than I would have otherwise.
It was also the same with my desire to go practically vegetarian.
Again I failed, some weeks spectacularly so, but in the effort I have gone from someone who regularly consumed meat on 15 out of 21 meals each week to some weeks only having 3-7 meals of meat most weeks including many meat-free days.
Again in the effort, in the failing, I have come further than I ever would've if I set a low benchmark of say one meat free evening meal per week.
It's all about how you approach failure. Many of us are too tough on ourselves, but trust me if you can change that part of yourself and set some tough goals and then really try for them you'll end up going much further than you ever would have by playing it safe.
And that my friends is a failure worth celebrating.
Anyway it's been a while since I blogged to this site but some things have happened that have made me realize the importance of setting yourself big goals in life and then not just been OK with failing but celebrating the fact.
Bare with me here.
I used to work for an organisation that set its annual KPI's so low that metaphorically, they were no more challenging than walking out to your letterbox and back. One time a new board member dared to suggest that in addition to these mandated KPI's we should also set some 'stretch targets'.
You should have seen the fear on people's faces. What? You mean we actually strive to achieve something a little hard for ourselves even though there's a chance we 'gulp' fail?
And it struck me recently that with my own lifestyle I had been doing the equivalent, setting vague, mild goals for myself, eat healthier, drink less etc. Trouble is those goals were undefined so success or failure was undefined also.
This last month I did something different, I said that I would half my alcohol intake.
Now here's the thing. I failed.
BUT it's now easily sitting at about 3/4-2/3's of what it was and I can see that the benefits, namely in a bit of weight loss but also in greater migraine control are coming from that.
SO in essence it was good that I set myself a tough goal and failed because in failure I got further than I would have otherwise.
It was also the same with my desire to go practically vegetarian.
Again I failed, some weeks spectacularly so, but in the effort I have gone from someone who regularly consumed meat on 15 out of 21 meals each week to some weeks only having 3-7 meals of meat most weeks including many meat-free days.
Again in the effort, in the failing, I have come further than I ever would've if I set a low benchmark of say one meat free evening meal per week.
It's all about how you approach failure. Many of us are too tough on ourselves, but trust me if you can change that part of yourself and set some tough goals and then really try for them you'll end up going much further than you ever would have by playing it safe.
And that my friends is a failure worth celebrating.
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Plant Powered Slogger: Four months on...
Plant Powered Slogger: Four months on...: So four months on and how has the plant powered athlete thing panned out? In short mixed. For the first month, I kept pretty close to ve...
Four months on...
So four months on and how has the plant powered athlete thing panned out?
In short mixed.
For the first month, I kept pretty close to vego. Its easy in summer cook some mushrooms or tofu on the barbie whist the other have steak or chicken.
I was also exercising quite heavily and I lost 4 kilograms, down to 81kgs from what expect was possibly 85 or over Kg's around Christmas.
Then February hit. We had two big celebrations, my 40th birthday and our wedding this meant a lot of eating and drinking but also a lot of stress. I was also enduring a bit of work stress and subsequently during Feb and afterward through March and into April I was fighting off colds and flu's which reduced the rate of exercise.
So. weight loss tick, but well being. Not so much but their were mitigating circumstances.
Another good note was the Canberra Half Marathon. I had being doing a program designed my a mate - long slower runs on the weekend (135-145 BPM max) and sprints mid week. This combined with my healthier diet, and in spite of the interruptions to training saw this marathon (my third in six years) beat last years' time by 22 minutes, but beat my time from 5-6 years' previous by 10 minutes.
For those keeping score at home I ran 2hrs 2 minutes.
This was a source of immense pride for me. I was bullied in High School, partly for not being good at sport. And here finally at the age of 40 I'd run a time in a major running event that was effectively 'par'. For those who don't know a 2 hr Half ad a 4 hour full 'should' be achievable for any reasonable fit and healthy individual with the right training and diet.
I know some people wouldn't be proud of 'par' but gee I was.
So where am I now? It's trick as Canberra Autumn gives way to winter it is proving harder to work out meals that convert easily to vego. Going vegetarian solo in a family unit is hard. And with colder recipes it's harder to modify a meat/no meat situation.
So I've settled on the two of four mid week meals I cook being vego and eating whatever my low carb/high protein dieting wife serves on her two nights. On the weekends I try to order vego meals if we eat out or get take away. My breakfasts, lunches and snacks are all vegetarian. So at best about 18-19 meals out of 21 are vego, Some weeks worse, some weeks better.
Weight wise after the celebrations of February and my intermittent illnesses I blew back out to 85 kgs again.
So what to conclude at this point?
In short mixed.
For the first month, I kept pretty close to vego. Its easy in summer cook some mushrooms or tofu on the barbie whist the other have steak or chicken.
I was also exercising quite heavily and I lost 4 kilograms, down to 81kgs from what expect was possibly 85 or over Kg's around Christmas.
Then February hit. We had two big celebrations, my 40th birthday and our wedding this meant a lot of eating and drinking but also a lot of stress. I was also enduring a bit of work stress and subsequently during Feb and afterward through March and into April I was fighting off colds and flu's which reduced the rate of exercise.
So. weight loss tick, but well being. Not so much but their were mitigating circumstances.
Another good note was the Canberra Half Marathon. I had being doing a program designed my a mate - long slower runs on the weekend (135-145 BPM max) and sprints mid week. This combined with my healthier diet, and in spite of the interruptions to training saw this marathon (my third in six years) beat last years' time by 22 minutes, but beat my time from 5-6 years' previous by 10 minutes.
For those keeping score at home I ran 2hrs 2 minutes.
This was a source of immense pride for me. I was bullied in High School, partly for not being good at sport. And here finally at the age of 40 I'd run a time in a major running event that was effectively 'par'. For those who don't know a 2 hr Half ad a 4 hour full 'should' be achievable for any reasonable fit and healthy individual with the right training and diet.
I know some people wouldn't be proud of 'par' but gee I was.
So where am I now? It's trick as Canberra Autumn gives way to winter it is proving harder to work out meals that convert easily to vego. Going vegetarian solo in a family unit is hard. And with colder recipes it's harder to modify a meat/no meat situation.
So I've settled on the two of four mid week meals I cook being vego and eating whatever my low carb/high protein dieting wife serves on her two nights. On the weekends I try to order vego meals if we eat out or get take away. My breakfasts, lunches and snacks are all vegetarian. So at best about 18-19 meals out of 21 are vego, Some weeks worse, some weeks better.
Weight wise after the celebrations of February and my intermittent illnesses I blew back out to 85 kgs again.
So what to conclude at this point?
- Weight is a lot easier to put on than to take off.
- Making a serious long term change in your life takes commitment and dedication, and there will be ups and downs.
- The slow run/sprint run program really works and I will adopt this method again for a 30km trail run in November beginning training for this in August once the harsh chill of Canberra's winter thaws out.
- I have seen no immediate health and lifestyle benefits yet. This is disappointing by propensity to get colds and flus, and migraines continues unabated. I still believe the science that says vego/vegan/pescetarian diets are healthier in the long term, I'm just yet to see it short term!
So where to now? I mentioned in the last post how I like beer a bit too much. This is a complex relationship and one that could fill a whole post on its own. Suffice to say I have committed to trying to make sure at least that Mon-Thurs each and every week are beer-free and seek to not replace it with other stuff just as harmful (diet softdrinks, softdrinks generally, etc).
Having successfully adopted if not a vegetarian diet but a low meat diet into my lifestyle, I am hoping my ability to stick to this beer-free pan for a few weeks will see this become the 'new' normal.
As for exercise, I will try and ride to work more as a commute on the weeks when our kids are now at their respective 'other' parents. The benefit of this will be three fold I'll burn good calories, maintain a fitness base and be able to actually get more sleep as my exercise will be my commute and vice versa.
If you read this and are pushing it uphill with your own fitness and diet goals. Don't get disheartened, set backs happen, just stay true to your long term goal and try to enjoy the journey.
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Mushroom Burger
I figured the feed needed some images to liven it up. Here's the first of my 'how could you miss meat when there's this to eat?' Photos. Not really a recipe but a delicious mushroom burger with heaps of salad. A tip season the mushroom well with salt, pepper, chilli and lemon before taking out of the pan.
A new outlook at almost forty...
What am I doing here? Well thanks to some impending milestones, my fortieth birthday and a wedding to an amazingly kind and beautiful woman, it was time to reflect. This blog will document the changes I am committing to and hopefully keep me committed and inspire others as I begin my journey toward being a plant powered, marathon running slogger. Hopefully along the way I will not only transform my physical self but also undergo a new burst of personal growth too. But first a bit about me and how I got here and why now?
SO WHY NOW? I've gone through some tough times but right here and now, things might be busy, but I've never been more fulfilled and happy. Which is great, but clearly something in my mind was saying "what next?"
I honestly don't know what the driver was, perhaps I am just naturally restless, because really I should be focused on these upcoming moments of celebrations and enjoying a bit of stability and contentment, but there was just this one, thing...
My fitness and health.
Now don't get me wrong for most people being an active 39 yr old man, happy, with good job and weighing in at about 83kgs at 175cms tall, would generally be pretty good. Some people would consider me fit looking, others might have said that I looked fine, nothing to worry about. Trouble is I knew differently. By most nutritionist scales I was on the heavy side of the normal range, and although I ate reasonably healthy I was alway open to the odd packet of chips, I'd order whatever I felt like at restaurants and the there was the beer, sweet sweet beer, but we'll come back to that later.
The fact was, I was fine by most people's standards, I was even fit enough to confidently tackle everyday tasks such as furniture moving and such, but I knew I could be better.
I suspect mortality has something to do with it, people talk about your forties being the decade where you have to get to grips with the fact that you aren't going to be around forever. I also suspect gaining a second chance at love at this stage of life also sharpened my focus. I want to still be doing cool stuff with my darling partner in forty years' time, and I'd hate it if I lead a life without being mindful of my health and fitness, only to find my bad habits saw me into an early grave and cheated me of precious years with my partner and our respective kids.
So for months if not years I had determined that I would tackle a marathon this year, probably out of some macho desire to prove that "I still got it!', and I began talking to people and researching what I needed to do to take the step from solid 10km fun runner and two time half marathon slogger up to that next level.
Now I should say that I'm not a gifted athlete, 54-55 minus is my best time for a 10km run, with training the supposed 2hr 'par' time for a half marathon is in reach. I was a sickly, nerdy child and for most of my teens I let other people's perceptions colour what I could do, "you're short-winded" my well meaning mother would say, "the problems you had as a newborn probably affected your hand eye co-ordination" Dad would offer. So in my teens I accepted this, I would walk for exercise and from the of age 15 use my brother's weights. But compete in a genuinely testing physical event? Never!
I was natural at swimming however, and this was encouraged and luckily in my early twenties this would be my entree into life where exercise, daily exercise, became as important to me as eating or sleeping.
But back to high school, growing up on a farm in rural Victoria, Australia (think about where Footloose was set and it's kind of an Australian version of that), it was almost a right of passage that one would begin to consume large quantities of beer and bogan rock from about the age of 15 whenever you could get away from your parents. And once I started doing 'a man's day of work' on the farm, Dad would allow us to drink the odd beer at home too. This and a complete ignorance of nutrition (have you seen how teenage boys eat? I was no exception) saw me weigh in in the low 90kg range by the end of my first year of University. Having being bullied for my hearing loss, thick glasses, facial features (an overshot jaw) and lack of sporting prowress probably also contributed to a bit of comfort drinking an eating also.
Two bouts of facial surgery to correct the overshot jaw saw me lose nearly 20kgs in two years. it was like having my jaw broken twice. So for most of my twenties I maintained a slim (with a bit of tummy fat from the beer) body shape, weighing in the 70 kg range.
During my twenties, I began to do swimming squad with my dear friend, Kate, which opened me up to a world of open water swims and I competed in many Anglesea Rock to Ramp events, Williamstown Australia Day Swims and more. I also learnt the value of self actualization by following a newspaper article that said they could teach anyone how to run. and it did! Short-windedness be damned!
So my life progressed, fitness always proving to be a regular part of my day, at various times I would commute via bike to work, go for morning runs with friends, and compete against myself in short distance triathlons, open water swims and fun runs.
As one settles down and gets responsibilities and ages your weight can creep up and it has over the years but only marginally so up to about 83 kgs now and pretty steady at that. But always there was the constant desire to drop a bit of weight, get a bit fitter, lose the beer tummy. But you know what? I never fully committed to this, I would marginally reduce my mid-week drinking, but not all the time, I'd eat kinda healthier, until I got hungry. I' fiddle with my exercise routine but not by much.
Now its also worth mentioning that, that sickly kid grew into a sickly adult some years it seemed like I couldn't go more than six weeks without being afflicted by a lurgy/cold/flu of some sort, not to mention at times the weekly migraines.
Now I knew from experience that going low-carb/paleo had briefly helped me to feel less sickly, this I put down to eaing much less processed food. I also knew that I could control my migraines better by drinking beer that had fewer chemicals in it, the fancy boutique stuff (which cost more so I drank less of it). But generally even with slightly healthier eating and drinking habits I found myself entering my fortieth year faced with another health and fitness Groundhog Day scenario. Setting myself vague incremental goals and falling short of them and sitting at my same level of 'roughly OK health and fitness'.
And then I got Ultra-marathon runner, Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run, as a work secret santa present, (http://scottjurek.com/) a few weeks ago and something just clicked.
I looked up halfway through that book and thought, "Yep I'm giving up meat." Now I had already set myself to up my training commitment to meet my half and full marathon running goals this year, but I knew from reading and experience that you can do those things without necessarily transforming your whole self inside and out. No, if I was going to change myself, move myself to a better place physically and philosophically, I was going to have to do something big and that was to give up meat.
Bu you know what? Once I made the decision it's been pretty easy. There were a few times when I wasn't ready to declare my intentions so I ate the food that was offered, but on the whole I've found it remarkably easy to even cook up tasty seafood for my partner and not even pinch a bit of it.
I had been aware that the 'science was in' on vegetarianism as the healthier lifestyle choice for a while (although the jury is still out on whether its the absence of meat, inclusion of other foods, or the fact that Vego's lead healthier lifestyles generally) I was also well aware that ecologists had pleaded in various TED talks that giving up meat is the single best thing you can do for the planet and the humans living on it.
None of that resonated until I read Scott's book. I bought his 'running existentialist' ideal hook, line and sinker'
So anyway. This is the start of my Journey. December 28, 2014 I became a vegetarian. And I think that apart from a leave pass on my fortieth and at the wedding, it's going to stick. And what's more, I think it will grow, I'm addicted to reading up on new recipes and I'm consciously looking for vegan ones, figuring that if I add mostly vegan recipes to my repertoire, I can become vegan by stealth!
This blog will document my journey to a new me, taking me from a place that's already happy but comfortable hopefully to a new plane. I will talk about my challenges, share new recipes, my training and results. I hope someone out there finds this and read it and is inspired, but if not, it doesn't matter. Simply documenting this journey here in this blog for myself will force an extra layer of commitment from me.
In coming blogs will address the 'beer thing' as to be honest, reigning that in will be harder than giving up meat, don't get me wrong I don't think I have a problem so to speak, but I do see it as a hurdle to getting to where I want to be. I'll also cover running and mental health as I have a bit to share about how running helped me through some tough times.
But for now, that's more than enough words to get started on.
SO WHY NOW? I've gone through some tough times but right here and now, things might be busy, but I've never been more fulfilled and happy. Which is great, but clearly something in my mind was saying "what next?"
I honestly don't know what the driver was, perhaps I am just naturally restless, because really I should be focused on these upcoming moments of celebrations and enjoying a bit of stability and contentment, but there was just this one, thing...
My fitness and health.
Now don't get me wrong for most people being an active 39 yr old man, happy, with good job and weighing in at about 83kgs at 175cms tall, would generally be pretty good. Some people would consider me fit looking, others might have said that I looked fine, nothing to worry about. Trouble is I knew differently. By most nutritionist scales I was on the heavy side of the normal range, and although I ate reasonably healthy I was alway open to the odd packet of chips, I'd order whatever I felt like at restaurants and the there was the beer, sweet sweet beer, but we'll come back to that later.
The fact was, I was fine by most people's standards, I was even fit enough to confidently tackle everyday tasks such as furniture moving and such, but I knew I could be better.
I suspect mortality has something to do with it, people talk about your forties being the decade where you have to get to grips with the fact that you aren't going to be around forever. I also suspect gaining a second chance at love at this stage of life also sharpened my focus. I want to still be doing cool stuff with my darling partner in forty years' time, and I'd hate it if I lead a life without being mindful of my health and fitness, only to find my bad habits saw me into an early grave and cheated me of precious years with my partner and our respective kids.
So for months if not years I had determined that I would tackle a marathon this year, probably out of some macho desire to prove that "I still got it!', and I began talking to people and researching what I needed to do to take the step from solid 10km fun runner and two time half marathon slogger up to that next level.
Now I should say that I'm not a gifted athlete, 54-55 minus is my best time for a 10km run, with training the supposed 2hr 'par' time for a half marathon is in reach. I was a sickly, nerdy child and for most of my teens I let other people's perceptions colour what I could do, "you're short-winded" my well meaning mother would say, "the problems you had as a newborn probably affected your hand eye co-ordination" Dad would offer. So in my teens I accepted this, I would walk for exercise and from the of age 15 use my brother's weights. But compete in a genuinely testing physical event? Never!
I was natural at swimming however, and this was encouraged and luckily in my early twenties this would be my entree into life where exercise, daily exercise, became as important to me as eating or sleeping.
But back to high school, growing up on a farm in rural Victoria, Australia (think about where Footloose was set and it's kind of an Australian version of that), it was almost a right of passage that one would begin to consume large quantities of beer and bogan rock from about the age of 15 whenever you could get away from your parents. And once I started doing 'a man's day of work' on the farm, Dad would allow us to drink the odd beer at home too. This and a complete ignorance of nutrition (have you seen how teenage boys eat? I was no exception) saw me weigh in in the low 90kg range by the end of my first year of University. Having being bullied for my hearing loss, thick glasses, facial features (an overshot jaw) and lack of sporting prowress probably also contributed to a bit of comfort drinking an eating also.
Two bouts of facial surgery to correct the overshot jaw saw me lose nearly 20kgs in two years. it was like having my jaw broken twice. So for most of my twenties I maintained a slim (with a bit of tummy fat from the beer) body shape, weighing in the 70 kg range.
During my twenties, I began to do swimming squad with my dear friend, Kate, which opened me up to a world of open water swims and I competed in many Anglesea Rock to Ramp events, Williamstown Australia Day Swims and more. I also learnt the value of self actualization by following a newspaper article that said they could teach anyone how to run. and it did! Short-windedness be damned!
So my life progressed, fitness always proving to be a regular part of my day, at various times I would commute via bike to work, go for morning runs with friends, and compete against myself in short distance triathlons, open water swims and fun runs.
As one settles down and gets responsibilities and ages your weight can creep up and it has over the years but only marginally so up to about 83 kgs now and pretty steady at that. But always there was the constant desire to drop a bit of weight, get a bit fitter, lose the beer tummy. But you know what? I never fully committed to this, I would marginally reduce my mid-week drinking, but not all the time, I'd eat kinda healthier, until I got hungry. I' fiddle with my exercise routine but not by much.
Now its also worth mentioning that, that sickly kid grew into a sickly adult some years it seemed like I couldn't go more than six weeks without being afflicted by a lurgy/cold/flu of some sort, not to mention at times the weekly migraines.
Now I knew from experience that going low-carb/paleo had briefly helped me to feel less sickly, this I put down to eaing much less processed food. I also knew that I could control my migraines better by drinking beer that had fewer chemicals in it, the fancy boutique stuff (which cost more so I drank less of it). But generally even with slightly healthier eating and drinking habits I found myself entering my fortieth year faced with another health and fitness Groundhog Day scenario. Setting myself vague incremental goals and falling short of them and sitting at my same level of 'roughly OK health and fitness'.
And then I got Ultra-marathon runner, Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run, as a work secret santa present, (http://scottjurek.com/) a few weeks ago and something just clicked.
I looked up halfway through that book and thought, "Yep I'm giving up meat." Now I had already set myself to up my training commitment to meet my half and full marathon running goals this year, but I knew from reading and experience that you can do those things without necessarily transforming your whole self inside and out. No, if I was going to change myself, move myself to a better place physically and philosophically, I was going to have to do something big and that was to give up meat.
Bu you know what? Once I made the decision it's been pretty easy. There were a few times when I wasn't ready to declare my intentions so I ate the food that was offered, but on the whole I've found it remarkably easy to even cook up tasty seafood for my partner and not even pinch a bit of it.
I had been aware that the 'science was in' on vegetarianism as the healthier lifestyle choice for a while (although the jury is still out on whether its the absence of meat, inclusion of other foods, or the fact that Vego's lead healthier lifestyles generally) I was also well aware that ecologists had pleaded in various TED talks that giving up meat is the single best thing you can do for the planet and the humans living on it.
None of that resonated until I read Scott's book. I bought his 'running existentialist' ideal hook, line and sinker'
So anyway. This is the start of my Journey. December 28, 2014 I became a vegetarian. And I think that apart from a leave pass on my fortieth and at the wedding, it's going to stick. And what's more, I think it will grow, I'm addicted to reading up on new recipes and I'm consciously looking for vegan ones, figuring that if I add mostly vegan recipes to my repertoire, I can become vegan by stealth!
This blog will document my journey to a new me, taking me from a place that's already happy but comfortable hopefully to a new plane. I will talk about my challenges, share new recipes, my training and results. I hope someone out there finds this and read it and is inspired, but if not, it doesn't matter. Simply documenting this journey here in this blog for myself will force an extra layer of commitment from me.
In coming blogs will address the 'beer thing' as to be honest, reigning that in will be harder than giving up meat, don't get me wrong I don't think I have a problem so to speak, but I do see it as a hurdle to getting to where I want to be. I'll also cover running and mental health as I have a bit to share about how running helped me through some tough times.
But for now, that's more than enough words to get started on.
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