Lost My Motivation

Was looking for my motivation on Sunday
when I went on an eight kilometre walk

It is disappointing to say that and it is easy to look for excuses as to why this has happened. The easiest of the excuses would be to blame it on hockey; afterall I am coming off a whirlwind of games and travel over the past couple of weeks.

It all started with the trip to Chilliwack on March 14th to play the first two games in the best of five first round series down there. I had plans of walking from the rink to the hotel as I have in the past at least once and even recruited the temporary trainer who seemed to be interested in doing that. I never did walk with him but, to be fair to myself, I did walk from the rink to the hotel on the morning of the 15th. Since then I haven't done much of anything.

It rained while we were down there and then of course there was the Saturday overnight trip back home to Prince George. Sunday morning I was in the Spruce Kings office until after 2pm and can't really remember doing much of anything after that. Monday and Tuesday, the games were in Prince George so I was in the office for most of the days. Following Tuesday's game we had to ride back down to Chilliwack for Wednesday's game ... that the Spruce Kings lost.

Instead of coming home on Wednesday night, we stayed in Chilliwack over night and drove home Thursday instead and that is when the lack of motivation took full effect. I didn't do anything Thursday night, all day Friday or all day Saturday. My Fitbit steps took a beating so to speak and I have updated Fitbit for almost two weeks.

Fitbit, as I mentioned earlier, is the reason for my increased activity and weight loss. Instead of embracing that over the past two weeks, I have done the exact opposite with lots of drinking and excessive eating with little to no activity. How am I going to be able to run a 5K road race?

On the plus side, it is just over two months away and if I can get back on track, should be able to get myself ready for it.

Although my eating is not back to where it should be and my weight is showing that being seven pounds up over my weight two weeks ago, I did go for a long eight kilometre walk with a few hills on the trail on Sunday, I walked home from work on Monday night and on Tuesday I went to the gym to see how I would fare on the treadmill - no 5K there I can tell you.

Maybe having that "step back" will be good for me, but I don't like the feeling that I am starting from square one so I will have to do something about that to get completely back on track. The plan is to get back to the gym three times a week and maybe even start trying to do some running on the road using the C25K app.

Challenging myself to get back into a routine shouldn't be difficult, and I did promise myself that I would never see 230 again which is only 4 kgs away again. I have a 5K race to run and I'm thinking I would be better off if my weight was closer to the 200 mark than it is now for sure. I know I can do this and have to get back to tracking the data I was tracking before including calorie consumption.

I started this on my own, I signed up for the 5K on my own and I have to get back on track now on my own. I have to be my own best motivator and remember what it was like before, cause it was enjoyable seeing that success on the scales and on the track/treadmill.

My First 5 K: Backgrounder

My Walking Partner Was This Two Year Old Moose Calf

Okay here it goes ... gonna try using this blog of mine to post my thoughts and more as I prepare for my first 5K run.

Since February of last year I have been keeping myself active and it has resulted in me losing 50 pounds ... technically it is 49 pounds as I still have one more pound to shed. I started by just walking and I can remember my very first walk.

It was only a four kilometer walk, two kilometers from my house and back again. The walk itself was a feat to complete and my wife reminded me just the other day that I was complaining that she was walking too fast and that we had gone too far. Wow has that changed! Now I walk on average four kilometers with my nightly dog walk.

After that first walk, it took me over a week before I said to myself that I need to get back out there and do it again. I took the dog and we went on a short walk, but at least I got back out there. I didn't get out on a daily basis, but I would try to go at least twice and sometimes three times a week.

One of the first changes I noticed was with my daily routine. Instead of spending all day on the computer and then bringing work home with me that would have me sitting at my computer for hours in the evening, I was now going outside with the dog for at least a couple of hours. Soon I was just leaving my personal computer at work and not even bringing it home, because when I did it was only sitting in the carrying bag anyways.

I started going on walks with much more regularity and noticed that they were getting easier to accomplish. Most of my walks were on mainly level ground with not very much change in elevation. I started adding that to my walks by heading to the base of University Hill, not the road but through the Connector Trails and taking the 1 kilometer incline to the top.

The first time I did this trail I thought I was gonna die (sound familiar) and had to stop twice along the way. Fortunately there were benches on the path that I could use to catch my breath. I kept at it and it didn't take long before I was heading up the hill without having to stop.

The turning point in my walks came on July 7th, when I went on a long walk that ended up totaling 13 kilometers. During this walk I ended up walking alongside a two year old moose calf. It was so surreal as the moose walked beside me for a few steps before I realized what was happening. I stopped dead in my tracks as the moose took a few more steps before he too stopped and looked back at me. I looked nervously around for the mom for fear of an attack, but there was nobody else around. Shortly after the moose calf decided it was time to continue on and away he went.

By the way, that story is going to be the genesis of a future blog about wearing noise dampening headphones and listening to music while out walking or running.

I Credit My Success To This Device

Okay, I think you can see where this is all leading ... I started walking and added resistance to those walks. I still wasn't contemplating running as I don't, or at least didn't, consider myself a runner. The addition of my Fitbit and the use of GPS enabled tracking apps, I like Sports Tracker, allowed me to use data as a form of motivation to go longer and faster.

As summer started to turn to fall with winter closing in, I noticed that my walks were getting a little more uncomfortable with the cooler temperatures. That along with the start of hockey season forced me to figure out something different to continue an active lifestyle. My wife, who was the first person to really encourage me, had a membership at the Northern Sports Centre so I added a spousal membership.

I wasn't sure how that was going to work out for me because I've never been a big fan of working out with a bunch of strangers, but work out it did. I average three times a week and sometimes four times a week when I'm not traveling with the Spruce Kings. I really only spend time on the track and sometimes the treadmill (there's another blog that I'm going to have).

Spending time on the track, it was just a natural fit to try running and that has fueled my desire to see if I can complete a 5K run. Before heading inside for my "workouts," I had been playing around with a C25K app but hadn't got past the Week 3 level. I believe now I will be able to get a lot farther into the app and should be able to complete the full C25K (couch to 5K) training.

But that is still to be tested as I have only been able to run a full 5K on the treadmill once and haven't been able to do much more than one kilometer on a regular basis on the track. I suppose that is where I am the most nervous, because if I can't run for 5 kms on the track, how am I suppose to do that in a road race?

I know I am pushing myself, but still have a ways to go both physically and mentally as there are some hurdles that I can't seem to clear just yet. As far as walking etc. goes, I don't seem to tire out on walks no matter the duration and currently with my Fitbit, my daily goal is set to 14,287 steps which equates to 100,000 steps a week. The Sports Tracker app challenges me to add speed to my walks which I have also seen a steady increase in. So all that is really left is to get running and get myself to that mental level that lets me know I can accomplish the feat and reach my goal of running a 5K.