First time I am under 70 kg since I was a teen. But I will not mark this as done until I get four weeks in a row under 70 kg.
After so many years trying different ways… I am almost there!
After almost five years, this dream has come true!
This was the oldest goal I had here at 43t. I accomplished it in a race at the Retiro Park, in Madrid.
I blogged about it (in Spanish, sorry).
I will write a “how I did it” story, but now I am too tired to do it.
My goal is to stay under 70 kg. I have been under 71 kg for some weeks, and it seems my lifestyle change is really working to keep it under that.
The good news is that I am getting there very, very slowly, but steadily. This usually means my weight loss is a result of the constant habits I have been building.
I feel much better and I am getting much better at two of my favourite activities: running and cycling.
Hope to mark this as “done” shortly.
I am working (sort of irregularly, but every week) on this since November. Currently I am doing about 100 push-ups in three sets two or three times a week. My maximum amount of reps in one set is 43 (achieved today).
Probably the main reason I feel more motivated now is the fact I weigh 8 kgs less (how?) than four months ago :D imagine doing push-ups with an 8 kg rucksack! My rucksack is gone, and I feel much better now.
Slowly but surely.
Today I have smashed my own Half Marathon Personal Best: it dropped from 1:46:14 (in 2011) to 1:35:41 :) more than 10 minutes!
The fact I am at my lowest weight ever (72 kg) obviously helped a lot. But it also helped learning about the flow state: I looked for flow while running, getting a constant pace, and enjoying the rhythm between my steps, my breathe and everything else.
It has been a delightful experience!
It is funny that I only missed by 2 seconds my 10K record… which is a great pace (for me) if we take into account the fact I still had 11 km to go at that point ;)
Being this the current situation, I am convinced I am about to complete this “7 min/mile 10K” goal very soon. Just need to look for a 10K in the horizon!
Autotelic. I knew the concept, but I learned the word a couple of days ago.
An autotelic person is someone whose motivating force comes from inside. Probably everyone who has made something worthwhile in this world was autotelic. From Mohandas Gandhi to Richard Feynman, from Miguel de Cervantes to Wangari Maathai.
According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi,
“An autotelic person needs few material possessions and little entertainment, comfort, power, or fame because so much of what he or she does is already rewarding. Because such persons experience flow in work, in family life, when interacting with people, when eating, even when alone with nothing to do, they are less dependent on the external rewards that keep others motivated to go on with a life composed of routines. They are more autonomous and independent because they cannot be as easily manipulated with threats or rewards from the outside. At the same time, they are more involved with everything around them because they are fully immersed in the current of life.”
Setting a bet/challenge to myself, as I did last year, fuelled my motivation enough to prevent myself from overeating. This way I reached 72.1 kg, which is almost my ideal weight. However, once the challenge was over, I went back to my usual weight (at about 80 kg).
Then my workplace moved away, and, as I use to cycle to work, my average usual weight dropped a bit (from 80 to 78 kg). But this was not enough.
I realised my main problem was about binge eating at home. When I am outside, I am usually limited by the restaurant’s portions. But when I am home, I use to eat while I am cooking, while I am at the table, and after finishing. This is a problem.
Or better I should say this was a problem. I found a way that helps me avoid this. I made a set of rules to follow when I eat at home:
1) I can only eat what is on my tray (so I have to use a tray to put on it all I am going to eat).
2) the tray can only be provisioned with a list I write down (with plenty of details) at least three hours earlier (preferably after the previous meal, while I am full)
3) finishing everything that is on the tray is not mandatory, I can leave it for another moment. However, if I finish my meal, the meal is over and I cannot keep eating the items I left until the next meal (and only if they are in my list)
4) modifications in the next meal list are not permitted if it is going to happen within three hours (they are allowed if meal time is modified, or if modifications are about elimination of an item, though)
5) exceptions that can be added even though they are not in the list: rooibos tea, salt, vinegar, species and herbs.
6) additional exceptions: sport’s drinks, if they are consumed within one hour after jogging
7) these only apply at home only. So I feel free when I eat outside (I cannot eat while cooking there, so it is fine)
These rules helped a lot to eat more consciously. Now, while cooking, I have to ask someone else whether salt is ok, which is something strange for me, even funny. I do not feel anxiety about food, because I know what and when I am going to eat, so I do not keep thinking on food all the day long.
A good side effect is also that I keep track of food that is about to go off, so I use it up on time. Making a list also helps me to think better what should I eat at each moment (for example to combine pulses with bread to get protein, which is important as I am a vegetarian).
Now I am 72.5 kg, and I feel much better and with less anxiety than last year. I feel I can keep this as a lifestyle habit :)
Today, as in my last entry (which was long ago), I took part in the ARBA Tres Cantos plantation (the local association for the conservation of woods), and helped to plant five trees.
I really enjoyed it. Is is like a plantation festival!
My dog is now very tired. He did not plant trees, but we canicrossed all the way to the place and back.
I don’t know yet when am I going to do this (probably not even by 2014), but I just found a blog which might provide help on the (probably) most difficult part of the trip: crossing the Pyrenees:
http://nosinmibici.com/2012/10/21/de-francia-a-espana-en-bici-2012
So, now that I have completed a marathon, this is my next goal about running. I will focus on this for the next months, fingers cross!
3:53:01 (my watch time). Being my first marathon I would have been happy even with more than 4 hours, but getting less was great!
I will be at the starting line in three hours… and hopefully at the finish line four hours later!
I hope the next entry of this goal will be a “how I did it” story.
Last Friday was a bank holiday here. I ran 32 km (20 miles), the longest run in my schedule for the marathon training. I had never run so much, and I really enjoyed it. It was really an adventure. It was a good thing to bring some chocolates with me, as I started to be very hungry at km 27. Now, two days from then, I feel quite well, not even a hint of the effort done. So I think this is a good signal of the fact the training is OK.
The best thing was that my family and friends were waiting for me at the end of the run (I told them to go there and wait for me), so we enjoyed the bank holiday having lunch together.
Now it is time for tapering. Two weeks for marathon day!
This week’s long run was 28K. I only run once this distance before (last year). It has been very nice, and I tried new things, such as using petroleum jelly to prevent blisters, or using a torch (good to see and to be seen, as the first hour I ran was before down).
Next long run will be 32K (20 miles), which is the longest run before… marathon day!
In this part of the year, one of the easiest constellations to spot is Aquila. “Aquila” is the Latin for “eagle”, and it really reminds me an eagle. The brightest star is Altair, and it looks like the eye of the eagle. There are two stars apparently near it, Alshain (the tip of the beak) and Tarazed (the top of the head). Then, there are some stars that gives the constellation the shape of the spread wings.
It is quite surprising that, despite the Milky Way crosses this constellation, it contains no relevant nebulae or star clusters (it contains many, actually, but none of them easily visible with binoculars, for example).
Altair is one of the three stars that compose the Summer Triangle asterism (being the other two stars Deneb, in Cygnus, and Vega, in Lyra).
From Aquila other constellations are easier to find, such as Capricornus, Scutum, Serpens or Ophiucus.
After a lot of time, I feel I have reached a big milestone to achieve this goal. Since I was back from summer holidays I have been working a lot to get the core of my software finished, which is essential to get to the scientific results. I have to change, implement and improve several things within the code, but with the current version our experiments can start running. Isn’t it wonderful? :)
Today there were 24 km (almost 15 miles) in my training program.
I had a terrible sore throat, a runny nose and my tongue was aching. My first instinct was to put it off for another day. But Marathon Day will be in only 38 days, I cannot miss a single training day! I know I will run it willy-nilly, so the problem is not missing the marathon. The real problem is to run it undertrained, and get injured (perhaps even permanently injured).
So I followed the neck rule: if everything is fine from the neck downwards, and you feel sick only from the neck upwards, then you can run (I suppose an important exclusion it headache caused by running: if you start having a headache while running you should stop, but I am not an expert here). But you need to listen to your body, and if you start getting nausea or bad in any way, you have to be prepared to stop running.
The result was an outstanding long run. Nothing hurt while I was running (it seems it is a side effect of the body-produced epinephrine), and I witnessed one of the nicest sunrises ever at km 12.
[Please, note I am not a physician, I am just referring my experience. If you are looking for information about when to run while sick, you should not look for it by browsing the web]
Since I started to work seriously on this goal, I am enjoying much more the night sky. I am missing the stars when it is cloudy. I am speaking a lot more to other people interested in astronomy, getting into interesting conversations. I recognise much better the changes in the sky (such as travelling planets, or the constellations according to the season).
In short, I am really starting to feel myself a more complete person, closer to what I want to be.
I am not finished yet, but I would say I am over half way. I am not just learning the constellations, but I am also focusing on the important stars and Messier objects, making sure I learn something more than just names.
This one has been picked up near the Pramenoux castle, which is close to Lamure-sur-Azergues, on 22nd July 2012. A nice witness of a nice walk in the French woods.
