As my blog post count nears the
100 post milestone, I am surprised that I hit another HUGE milestone last week.
If you read me, or know me, it’s
no surprise that I keep track of things. I plan, I track, (I sometimes do nothing with
the previous information), I fine-tune, I like to know how things have been
going.
I tracked my weight loss when I
was 29-30. I’ve tracked my weight over
the years—for a decade I tracked my calories throughout the day. After I hit my goal weight, then after hitting my dream weight, I joined the neighborhood Gold’s Gym. Did you catch that, “after” I hit my goal weight, I
joined the gym.
Running Challenge
I don’t seem to do anything like
other people. I somehow, almost magically,
hit my dream weight—actually beyond my craziest dreams. I decided then to set a new goal, to run a
10k race. I knew nothing about this but
that seemed like a common distance people raced, according to all the flyers
and advertisements.
So to learn how to run 10k—I
figured out that was 6.2 miles—I made a plan to train for that distance. The best way I could learn to run an actual
mile was to use a treadmill to measure the distance. Strangely, it never occurred to me to run
around my neighborhood. In retrospect,
it seems like I needed the calculation function of the treadmill to make sure I
was on track. I’d never run a mile
before so this was all new. Yes, I
played sports, but never ran anywhere…what for?
So the first day at the gym I
did the run-a-minute, walk-a-minute until I hit 1 mile. Then a couple of days later I did the
run-two-minutes, walk-a-minute. On the
third day I was running my third minute and just decided not to stop until I
hit 1 mile about 7 minutes later. 10
minutes wasn’t too crazy hard. A couple of
weeks later I ran two miles straight and was amazed. Actually, I was beyond amazed.
One hour of running: So here’s the most interesting part—I was
able to work my way up to running 6.2 miles on the treadmill in about an
hour. Let’s be clear, running on a
treadmill (in Arizona in Oct) for an hour makes almost no sense to me now. Get outside and explore.
So about a month after joining
the gym—in Oct 2000, to learn how to run—I ran my 10k with maybe 10,000 people
and met my goal of finishing in less than 1 hour.
The Start of the Series
Very early on with my gym
membership (in the first couple of weeks) I started weight training at the
gym. I decided to do full-body “activation” workout two times per
week. My logic is simple, I want to
engage all my muscles and let them know they need to move, strain, and be
prepared for action. Since I like
keeping my heart rate up, I do supersets (push/pull, or legs/arms) and keep
moving from exercise to exercise.
After a few months, I went back
to the beginning of my membership and started tracking how many weeks I’d been
going to the gym. At the end of 52 weeks
in a row, I was amazed. At the end of
104 weeks in a row, I started thinking that I was on a good track.
I’ve ALWAYS found a gym, or workout room, or exercise stations (South
Beach Miami) no matter where I was in the world. I recall so vividly the gyms in far-flung
parts of the world (Chennai India strange, Luxembourg bathhouse/pool loft,
Frankfurt Germany old school German hanger-warehouse type place, Cleveland
basement, etc —have been very interesting).
There is not a single trip I’ve been on that I haven’t search out my
workout options. It’s usually right
after I buy my plane tickets, and part of my hotel/location
considerations.
Surprising Enhanced Awareness
In addition to recalling strange
gyms, I also recall my runs through different towns/cities in great
detail. It’s like my mind process the
surroundings differently when I run than when I’m walking around with my
wife. Runs must allow some kind of heightened awareness or something.
Lessons Learned
The point of this post is
twofold: one I accomplished an amazing
amount of consistent fitness/health activity. Two being
a detailed tracking person sometimes provides you with unplanned validation
rewards. So back to the title of
this post—I’ve completed 1000 weeks at
the gym, twice a week, without missing a single week in 19+ years. When I was logging weeks 984, 986, it didn’t
occur to me that I was almost at 1000. I
think because I was looking back at my success (consistency) and not looking
forward to having to go to the gym X more weeks to hit a goal. The goal/success was in the past, not in the
future. The rewards should come in the
future.
Don’t always look ahead at the goal/finish line, turn around and look
at the path of success behind you and savor everything you’ve done to get
to this exact moment. This moment is
temporary and only happens once…then it’s gone.
***
Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not
a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult
your own professional when seeking advice.
