paulradcliffe.me

July Review

This has been a working month. I’ve really been working hard but it’s exhausting.

I was working really hard for most of the month. However, I kind of fell off the wagon in the last week or so of the month. Fatigue just piled up and I kind of spiraled out of control with poor food choices, poorer sleep, and fading motivation. I started August with a vacation which did wonders, but it doesn’t erase the fact that I fell apart a bit at the end of July.

A definitely highlight of the month, and perhaps of my whole summer was surviving the Toronto Sprint Spartan Race.

I’m also stretching A LOT more. I’ve been doing a stretching routine almost daily which involves some resistance band work with my upper body, and leg work I revived from this post on getting to the splits. I will be incorporating more into this routine including self-massage with a lacrosse ball. the routine took me about 30 minutes a day in July, and I expect it to increase to about 45 minutes a day in August. That eats up more sleep time… 🙁

Living Clean

On a side note, I think one of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is that there are many things I’m not doing anymore: I haven’t played video games nor had any alcohol in over 6 months.

I haven’t touched any of my video game systems in over 6 months. Hopefully there’s no more relapses or such ever again. They’re just collecting dust now. Maybe I should just pack them up and sell them? (But, I do occasionally try an iPhone game or two with my mom to help her through Candy Crush levels that have her stuck).

Leaving alcohol in the dust has been an unsurprisingly positive thing for me. I acknowledge that I got drunk more often than I should have in University and the period shortly thereafter. And I occasionally overdid it. I think I’ve actually grown out of it. And it’s for the best. I can save a load of money and calories, and don’t run the risk of doing something stupid like drinking and driving.

I’m not swearing off alcohol religiously. In fact, I think I may have sipped some champagne during my cruise in March. I think of that as being ceremonial rather that pleasure or intoxication. A few sips then a couple hours I don’t worry about DUI. 

Somebody tried giving me an LCBO gift card a couple of months ago and I returned it to them saying I had absolutely no use for that thing. Something similar happened when friends brought over a bottle of wine that I just don’t want to drink anymore.  And I’m comfortable going to dinners and parties and just enjoying water, or perhaps an orange juice or ginger ale if I’m feeling adventurous.

Goal: LOSE 20 POUNDS OF FAT by the end of 2015
Status: Under 200 pounds! Which is good, I think…

For the first time in years and years I’m under 200 pounds! It’s been a slow, grueling progression and I hope to keep chugging. When I did my first marathon in the spring of 2011 I was 196 pounds. I’d like to get back there or lower by the New York City Marathon in November.

However, the Body Fat % number is worrying. I’m fairly certain I haven’t gained 7 pounds of body fat in a month. I think I can visually tell that I’m getting leaner. But my body fat analysis scale disagrees. But, last month I showed how the body fat measurement can very a lot within the course of an hour, so I’m not putting a lot of stock in that percentage.

I’m also kind of leery about the accuracy of a scale weight in general. If I drink a bottle of water I’d gain a pound of weight. Since my weight improvement margins are so slim and the possibility for variance is so high, I’m not sure how much stock I put into this trendline.

I do know that my best weight loss ever was a month when I slept 9+ hours a night. I need to strive to emulate that because this month didn’t go so well on that metric…

Goal: SLEEP AT LEAST 8 HOURS PER NIGHT
Status: Average 7.77… *sigh*

July 2015 nightly hours of sleep

I knew this  number wasn’t going to be good. And other than some excessive sleep in the last wee of July it would have been much worse.

I hate to say it, but #5amRunClub isn’t helping matters. At best I need to wake before 5am each morning, and the absolute earliest I can get to bed after going to the gym is 9pm. And, now that I’m stretching at least 30 minutes each day, that eats up more precious time! Can’t win, eh?

CONTINUE LEARNING TAI CHI
I will learn the entire Yang Style Tai Chi form in 2015
Status: Complete!

In my New Year’s Resolutions Post, I said I wanted to learn the entire Yang Style Tai Chi form. My last Tai Chi class was on July 20, and I’d say I’ve learned the form quite successfully. I certainly don’t think I’ve mastered it and could use a lot more refinement, but I’d like to think I’ve accomplished this goal.

Another few lunch hours of mind-numbing online Project Management courses. This month’s treat was “Troubleshooting and Closing the Project.”

Onwards to August! It’s going to be a make or break month. Up until now it looks like I could be training for a half-marathon. In August I get have serious distance and quality runs scheduled that are definitely for full-marathon.

I will have to diligently stick to my schedule to get an aggressive training schedule in while still getting enough sleep and stretching regularly. My Early Quality training phase ended shortly after July ended. I’ll talk about this schedule in my upcoming post about Transition Quality plan.