RECOVERY, STRAIN, SLEEP
Saturday June 24, 2017
My ‘far away goal’ is August 7th, 2051. I won’t race past that day – it will be evidence proving TSW (this ‘stuff’ works) …
When I was a child in school in the 1950’s I remember reading life expectancy in Canada was 72 for men, 73 for women. And ‘expectancy’ was a ‘best before date’ which had little to do with quality of life, measurement of health or ‘what are you doing to contribute to society?’ elements attached.
I see life differently today.
Not from text books, but from lifestyle, from choices, from energy generated as well as calories burned …
Resetting goals works best – for me it does – in stages.
There is that lofty far-away goal. Other goals along the way, milestones … and sometimes they feel like millstones but knocking them off one-by-one is satisfying and motivating in terms of the next one, and the one after that.
I’ve always found this in work/business, in getting deals from ‘impossible’ to ‘possible’ to ‘likely’ to ‘near the goal line’ and to ‘over the goal line’ and then to ‘keep them closed’. Lately I’m having a struggle – I seem to be winning. But each day it fights back, each day my client is uncooperative irrational unreasonable and prone to straying from ‘my focus’, from my plan of attack. That client, that unruly one, is me.
The project is, on its surface, just about weight loss, a contest and prize pursuit – but has taken on a life of its own. I’m well past that required 10% weight loss to qualify for the prize – my next goal set for next Thursday’s weigh-in with our group, but I have other goals.
The ‘next goal’, the ‘goal after that’ and longer-term ultimate goals which have more that a weight number attached to them. Their greater meaning: living longer, better, healthier. And I know I have my best chance from that healthy state of body and state of mind. But right now, I’m a little bit crazed. Some might say crazy. I’d rather say FOCUSED. Eye on the prize. Everything else is secondary.
Diet, exercise, sleep, keep track. Those are the basic elements. I finally got a ‘wearable device’ and I’m so happy with it. Some of that is ‘little boy has new toy’ behavior, but wow what a toy! My WHOOP is tracking so many things I’ve read about and now have the reality working for me every day. And it scolds me like a coach or teacher or parent would – to get more sleep, to train as told, to rest when told, to self-rate performance. I love it. I’m a little sore because I’m trying to do a little more each day; small increments, but increments nonetheless. A little more time on each machine at the gym, a little more distance on the bike. A little more weight, a little longer on the treadmill. Early days … we’ll see if the boy remains enamoured with the toy.
No I’m not a young high-performance athlete with delusions of grandeur. I’m a middle-aged former athlete who wants to live 100+ and I will. I have no guarantee to winning a medal, but I think it is more about winning life, winning at life and winning back my life/fitness/health …
P.S.: it’s too soon for me to endorse WHOOP – mine just arrived this week. It’s my first ‘wearable’. I’ve read many online comments about it being too sophisticated, too complicated, too heavy, too expensive and too ‘not cool’ by someone’s standards. Yes, it costs as much as some desktop computers and it has detractors and shortcomings. But what it does have, which I’m already valuing so much, is incentive to ‘measure while doing’ and a reminder that everything I’m doing is measured. And so far, the analytics are stunning. They’ll be better once the device has a few weeks of my own body and performance history stored, but already the heart-rate variations and sleep pattern data is dramatic and enlightening.
Reader feedback:
TURN ME LOOSE
I think the weight loss challenge is going to be the start of a new regime for you. More optimism, more willingness to take risks, more adventures while you reach for the brass ring. Every ending is an opportunity to start again on something better, GB, Calgary, AB
