Friday, December 31, 2010

Now For the Easy Part, or So I'm Told

If you’re still reading after the past couple of days, I want to thank you for allowing me to talk about my thought process – at least the one that I should have done when setting last year’s goals. What started out as the FAIL whale a few days ago has morphed into something that should keep me moving in the right direction.

Today I'm briefly going to talk about the final part to the puzzle - the day to day steps that will make my goal a reality. This is where we all live. Daily steps. One day at a time. The important thing is that if your plans are aligned with your strategy, and your strategy is aligned with your goals, then there is no way you can't be successful!

So let's see here - from yesterday:

Strategy: Develop an exercise plan that delivers cardiovascular benefit, hill climbing, altitude preparation, and calorie burn.
Plan: The trick here is to choose something that delivers the strategy while keeping it fun. I could row, but the thought of hours in the garage just isn't enticing. I could cycle, but that would involve an investment. Besides, ever since my little incident, I've been a bit hesitant to climb back on a seat. Really, when I look at all my choice, running is the one I enjoy the most. Not because I love running, but because I can be outdoors and enjoy the sights and sounds of the world around me.

So, I will undertake a training plan starting on Monday. The first order of business is getting back into shape. My thought is selecting the Higdon Intermediate Spring Training plan for the next 12 weeks. That should ease me back into the swing of things and get my legs back under me. I will make at least one day per week on the trails to add the hill climbing into the mix. As far as altitude training - right now with the tall mountains covered with snow, I'll need to wait until spring to do anything about that.

Strategy: Implement a calorie tracking system that allows accurate tracking of intake and burn resulting in a caloric deficit of 10,500 calories per month.
Plan: I need to deliver a calorie deficit of 10500 calories per month to deliver my goal of 3.5 lbs per month. My BMR is 2900 calories per day. I burn an average of 125 calories per mile run. So to deliver my calorie deficit, while maintaining my current calorie intake, I would need to run 84 miles a month. That's (in theory) all that's required! So all I need to do is track them. So the plan is to use LoseIt! Religiously.This is something on me. It's my fault that my earlier attempts to use LoseIt! didn't happen. I guess at some point I need to take *some* accountability.

So there you go. Just in time for my East Coast readers. Finished before the New Year rings in!

To all my readers - thanks for a wonderful 2010, for all your support, and all your motivation! Happy New Year!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

9 comments:

  1. Living one day at a time is a specialty of mine. ;)

    Good luck with everything here. Stay focused and no doubt, you can do it.

    Happy new year friend.

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  2. Happy New Year! You can do it, but don't be too hard on yourself. Allow for setbacks. Hoping for a great 2011 for you and your family : )

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  3. best wishes with your goals.

    when i got serious about losing extra poundage, i broke my calorie deficit down to daily goals. it was easier for me to stay on track when i tried to make a calorie deficit every day. just a suggestion!

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  4. Good luck with this Glenn!! Just take it day by day and I am sure you can do it! I use "my fitness pal" app for my iphone to track my calories and workouts. It is pretty easy, but I have never used LoseIt. That spring training plan looks great - I might have to use it too!

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  5. Good luck with your goals. One of my goals is to NOT calorie count. It just drives me crazy! I like how you converted it to miles per month to make it easy.

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  6. Your BMR is 2900 calories? How can I get one like that?

    Are you planning on racing? If not, maybe delete the race schedule from the right side of your blog, take off some pressure you don't need. Maybe even leave the Garmin behind, too, don't even track your time, just enjoy the moment.

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  7. You definitely have goals and plans and that's the way to get going!
    I, again, think you should work on fitness and feeling strong again before worrying too much about the weight. It's easier to be aware and thoughtful about your eating when you're doing it to "fuel" your training. Good luck!!
    Happy New Year, Glenn!

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  8. yes, lose it and i are going to become bff's again TOMORROW. we can do this!

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