30 Day Challenge

Posted on June 9, 2013 under Storytelling with 4 comments

If you’re like me, you’re concerned about your health and the eternal struggle to find the right balance when it comes to nutrition and exercise.  I would like to say that I am a model of consistency but that would be a bold faced lie.  I am a model of inconsistency.  When I’m good, I’m very good and when I’m bad … well , let’s just not go there.

A year ago I was at the pinnacle of health, or so I thought.  I had run two marathons ( Boston and Ottawa ) five weeks apart.  I was lean and mean and was the epitome of discipline.  After the second marathon, my body sent me a few discrete messages that it needed an extended holiday from the constant pounding of the road.  I listened.  Sort of.

To give my joints the rest it needed, I hung up the runners and hopped on the bike.  I was living at Malignant Cove at the time and so I biked one way, either to or from work every day, a distance of 21K.  As far as biking goes, that’s barely enough to get a sweat on.

And then I got the biking itch.  Gee, if I can do 21K, why not 30K.  Well, those of you who know me will quickly understand where this story is going.  Before too long I tackled the Cape, a distance of 78K. This is a tough bike ride, especially for someone who hadn’t done a whole lot of biking.  By the time the cold weather arrived, I was doing 100K rides.  Thank god it snowed one day and I was forced to put the bike away or else I may have ended up at the Rehabilitation Centre in Halifax.  I set up a stationary bike in the house,  which bored me to tears.

This is when the pain settled in.  It is like a party guest that won’t leave your house. You know the type.  You ask them to turn out the lights when they’re leaving.   Of course, my thrice surgically repaired knee was sore (duh), as were my back and neck. To top it off, the plantar fasciitis that I had successfully battled before returned with a vengeance.

At Christmas, I reinjured a herniated disc … by coughing!. For the past six months I have suffered chronic but not debilitating pain.  I have been going for therapy but haven’t had a whole lot of luck so far.  I walked to and from work all winter and spring which provided a modicum of exercise but certainly not what my head and body craves.

This is when I succumbed to an old addiction.  Sweets.   Any of you who read my blog have seen several references to this.. When I was running, I limited sweets to once a week: Sundays.  Once I stopped running and when the pain set in, I grabbed that old crutch and ran with it.  One day a week quickly morphed into 8 days a week, to steal a line from the Beatles.

Of course, if your activity level is severely curtailed and your caloric intake ramps up, the result is a few extra notches in the belt … and we all know how that feels.

A few days ago, I met with a young man, Matt MacDonald, a Masters student at STFX.  It would require several paragraphs to describe him but for now let’s just say that he is energetic, ambitious and entrepreneurial.  And he is probably one of the fittest people on the planet. He was telling me about his 30 day challenges, whether it has to do with exercise, food etc.  It is about setting realistic goals and targets that are achievable.   Check him out at www.wemovethistown.com

I thought it was high time that I stop using pain as an excuse and decided on my own 30 day challenge.  At a minimum, my goal is to go completely sweet-free for at least a month, hopefully longer (forever?).. In conjunction with this, I plan to incrementally increase my exercise and we’ll see what happens.  I know what will happen.  I will lose a few pounds ( ½ a pound a week is recommended by most sane dieticians ) and I will feel better mentally and physically.

So there.  I’ve put it out there.  I know I can do it, must to it and will do it.

How about you?  Any changes you need to make in your life?

If you don’t feel better in 30 days, there’s a money back guarantee!

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