I recently went on an outing with my wife and son for my sons birthday. There was a small stretch where I had to carry my son while climbing a VERY small incline. When I got to the top of this incline, I felt like I was going to absolutely pass out. While I continued on an enjoyed my sons birthday, I spent the time traveling home thinking hard about that moment. In nearly 2 weeks, I will be celebrating 60 days as a recovering overeater and in abstinence from bingeing. However, this moment really started getting me thinking that my health has suffered quite significantly. It kinda made me think of an analogy of a boat with a gaping hole in it. I have been able to get the patch in place by getting my binges and severe overeating under control. However, without following it up by addressing my health concerns with a holistic approach, that patch is going to only slow the leaking and ultimately cause the boat to sink. While I wound up getting really sick this past week and had to take time off work, I was able to reflect on what I need to do to get myself better.
First, the physical approach to my changes. While I have always found doing running races fun and exhilarating to finish, I always struggled with it because of how out of shape I have become. What I am going to do instead is find races that I will enjoy in other ways and focus more on just finishing that race instead of beating a time or distance. Already, I have plans to run a 5K for the first time with my son a week from today and then the weekend of the Twin Cities Marathon, run the 5K with my son as wife along side me. Also, I have plans to venture into the obstacle race realm with the Rugged Maniac race next month and then I aim to start the Spartan journey next year. Aside from getting out and walking and working my way up to runs, I am starting to look at various training methods that will give my body a more overall workout such as CrossFit or some of these at home workouts. Feel free to give me comments about your own experiences or thoughts on programs that worked well for you.
Second, I also decided to try a supplement program that hopefully with help me replace nutrients that I haven't been getting, boost my metabolism, and help strengthen my foundation to stay heading in the right direction. The supplement program I am talking about is Thrive from the Le-Vel company. My wife discovered the product from a friend of hers at work and definitely has seen benefits already while only being on it for nearly a month. Seeing these benefits and researching the product significantly, I decided to give it a try and will be including my progress with it in upcoming blogs once I receive my shipment. I will also include the link to my wife's promoter page for you all to check everything out.
Third, the psychological approach to my changes. In searching through the Spartan Race details and programs, I discovered that they have a fairly extensive program and approach to getting you in shape to conquer (namely their races) anything you set your mind to. One of these is the Spartan Delta. This Delta is a way to motivate yourself in focusing your mind, body, and soul on improving your life. I have included a link with more details about this below. One of the points to the Delta is the Spartan X program. This is a modular program that gets you to focus your psyche on achieving your goals and setting yourself up to overcome adversity. While I have just started this online learning program, there have already been parts of the modules that have gotten me thinking about life in more positive ways.
Lastly, the spiritual approach to my changes. This has been more about my overeating recovery program and looking for spiritual guidance to get through these tough times. I do daily devotionals and ask God to guide me in good times and bad. While praying to God for guidance is certainly a spiritual approach, I also view reading stories for inspiration and strength to persevere. I found myself looking back at videos that I would watch when I lost 100lbs and was training to run the Twin Cities Marathon nearly 5 years ago. One video that got me immediately connected to their mantra was the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt. Aside from their overall story, seeing the speech that Rick made at the 2013 ESPN Espys when him and his dad were awarded the Jimmy V Perseverance Award was absolutely mesmerizing and emotional. It really got me thinking that no matter how difficult I may think things are, I can always find a way to say "Yes you can" and push through feeling tired, hurt, or unmotivated.
Again, I have included a few links below. Check them out and also feel free to let me know what fitness/training programs have worked for you.
Lastly, I want to say thank you to my family, friends, and supporters that have encouraged me through all these difficult times and will cherish your kinship forever.
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