New Year, New Plan!

New Year, New Plan!

I've been mulling over a change in routine since the middle of December. I've been running pretty steadily, off and on, since mid-May 2012, and as we're now well over a week into the new year, it's time I stopped thinking and started doing.

However, I am currently nursing a mystery leg injury, and so any changes I make will have to wait until that is fully healed.

Here's my dilemma, if you can call it that. I love to run, but I'm beginning to think that is not enough for me. And so I've been listening to those around me, watching what the people I admire and respect are doing, and stealing a little bit of this-and-that from each of them. The following is what I've come up with.

My attack will be necessarily a two-pronged one.

The first thing to address, which I can do regardless of the health of my leg, is my diet. I've detailed in previous posts the minimal dietary changes I made in 2012, consisting mostly of the elimination of carbonated beverages from my diet and eating a more healthy breakfast. I've fallen away from that second one in recent weeks, and I need to get back up on that horse.

More importantly, though, it's time I took it to the next level. Keeping in mind that I'm the type of person who usually jumps head first into something and wears it out my welcome pretty quickly, and wanting these changes to stick, I've broken it up into a series of small goals that will get me to the next plateau:

1. Replace junk food snacks with healthy fruits and veggies.
2. Replace post-breakfast caffeine with water.
3. Get back to eating a healthy, filling breakfast.
4. Eat smaller, healthier lunches.

Once I've met these goals, the next steps will be to:

5. Eliminate afternoon snacking.
6. Eliminate all foods after 8PM. (Don't remember where I heard this one, but it's always stuck in my head as being a good idea - I'm in inveterate evening snacker.) (Hyperlink is for you - you know who you are.)

At this point, I should be eating a filling, healthy breakfast, a healthy mid-morning snack, a light & healthy lunch, and a good dinner. I am very fortunate to be married to an amazing, health-concious woman who always cooks as healthily as possible, and who is a magician in the kitchen. Dinner is not a concern; snacking after dinner is.

For a more well-rounded
workout...

The second thing to address, as soon as my leg is 100%, is to expand my exercise regimen beyond running. The first phase will be a 30-day test using my P90X videos from a year ago. The advantage here is two-fold: there will be more indoor workouts during the winter, and it'll be flexible enough that I can switch indoor sessions with running as the weather allows. Here is my basic plan, always subject to modification/tweaking:

Sun - Stretch/Cardo
Mon - Plyometrics
Tue - Running (yeah!)
Wed - Yoga
Thu - Kenpo
Fri - Core Synergistics
Sat - More running (double-yeah!)

After 30 days, I will reasses my progress and make additional changes as necessary.

So, why this change? What am I trying to accomplish?

I like what running has done for me...

The obvious answer here is a more healthy "me." I like what running has done for me physically and emotionally, but I don't want to become burned out on it as I have with so many other things, and I believe this is the next evolution in my progress towards better over all health. I will continue to run races; I'm at a level now that twice-per-week running is suffiecient to maintain the progress I've made as a runner over the past eight months.

So I invite you to join me on this journey, either as a disinterested observer, a vocal detractor or even an active participant - the choice is yours.

I've started a Facebook page to track my progress on this next phase of my life - "like" my page, follow my progress, and post your own. Heck, create your own page and I'll like it in return so we can follow each other on our journey to a better, healthier self! And as always, follow me on Twitter for a more interative experience!

Here's to a fantastic 2013!

-Steve

My Mantra For 2013!