Time to hit Reset
I’m a fan of Wil Wheaton and recently he posted about hitting reset in the way he is living life. I soon started thinking about the areas in my life where I need to hit reset as well.
But first, a little background on me. I suffer from depression. I tried to ignore and fight this all my life. Up until a few years ago, I tried to leave it untreated. This was a terrible idea, as I dropped out of college for a semester, tried multiple times to commit suicide, drank too much and a lot of other risky behaviors. In late summer of 2012, I was hospitalized after another suicide attempt. From that point forward, I’ve been working with my psychiatrist and therapist for the right combo of medication, exercise, therapy, down time and everything else that goes into being well balanced. I was also diagnosed with prediabetes, high blood pressure and hypothyroidism in 2012. At the age of 30, I became a walking pharmacy. At least that’s what it felt like…and still does at times.
I had gotten back into running in 2011, when I was unhappy with my weight gain. I hadn’t run since I was a sophomore in high school on the track team. However, due to having shin splints that entire season, I quit track the last two years of high school. The only time after that when I ran was during gym class when we were required to run a timed mile. My fastest mile in high school was my senior year with a 7:30 mile. My first mile in 2011 took me damn near 14 minutes to complete and was mainly walking. That was a wake up call to how out of shape I had become. I’ve had the running bug ever since.
This fall I completed my first marathon. 26.2 miles. 5:05:10. When I first started training in July, my only goal was to finish. By September, my goal was to finish in 5 hours. So I was about 5 minutes after my goal time, but I am okay with that result. Now I have a whole new set of goals, which also plays into where I need to hit reset in my life.
- Nutrition: My A1C went up a couple of points through the course of my training. Mainly because I started eating more carb heavy foods to fuel my runs. Unfortunately, being prediabetic, this raises my blood sugar levels too high for my pancreas to create enough insulin to regulate to normal levels. Thanks genetics! So while I have cut most bread, pasta, potatoes, corn, sugar and everything that is delicious out of my diet or to very small amounts, it is still not enough. I’ve been looking into a ketogenic diet, but will consult with my doctor and a nutritionist before going down that path.
- Strength training: At mile 22 of the marathon, I hit the proverbial wall. I was exhausted and I found out exactly where all of my weaknesses were in my body. I had been doing a bit of weight lifting and some lateral movement drills, but definitely not enough. I had muscles so sore that I could barely hobble around and it hurt to move for a couple of days. Thankfully, I have a roommate that is a massage therapist and that helped to alleviate some of the soreness. I have started following The New Rules of Lifting for Abs program and have seen some gains in my strength and mobility. However, I still struggle when it comes to going to the gym.
- Consistent gym time: I have gotten to consistency in my running. Training for a marathon is a minimum of 4 days of running per week. I will likely bump that up for my next marathon training cycle. However, I also want to get pretty cut in my physique. I want to be comfortable running in just a sports bra and bun huggers. I want to look like an endurance athlete. This also is tied to my goals of resetting my nutrition. I’m learning more and more about balance.
My overall goal going into 2016 is to keep myself healthy and to increase my training so I can run faster. I know that what I am eating and not eating is having an effect on how efficient my body is performing under the stress of training and racing. I am now to the point where I am ready to start making some serious changes to achieve some serious long term goals. I used to joke that I wouldn’t qualify for the Boston Marathon until I was in my 60s. Now, I’m aiming to qualify before I’m 40. As I just turned 33, I’ve got 7 years and with the inspiration of some of my friends and members of Oiselle’s Haught Volee, I seriously think that I can get that BQ.
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