JeffDauler

If there is one day of the week where I find myself more tired and unmotivated … it’s usually Tuesday.  Something to be aware of and prepare for going forward.

Today wasn’t a great eating day AND I did ZERO fitness. 

The good news is, I’m motivated for tomorrow.  And, I’ll do some push-ups before bed.

And, I just got word from my Coach that she’ll be sending my training calendar over in the near future.  Excited about that.

Lots of questions about the training programs and nutrition plans I’ll be following as I prepare for the Malibu Triathlon in September.  I don’t really have anything specific yet .. but I will.  I have some general guidelines: move more and eat better. 

FITNESS & EXERCISE

The fitness goal right now is just to start moving.  I’ve been walking / jogging for about a week, and I got in the pool tonight for about an hour.  I’m going to write a longer post in a few days about the walking and jogging, as I’ve actually been dabbling in that for about 2 years now after a decade (plus) of no real activity of any sort.  In the meantime, just move. 

Find 15 minutes or 30 minutes or an hour just a few times a week and walk.  Twice this week, start your lunch break walking outside for 10 minutes in one direction, then come back to the office.  Saturday morning, walk 20 minutes up your street then come back.  Sunday evening, take a 40 minute stroll around the hood.  Guess what?  You just walked for two hours.  Do that for a month, you just walked 8 hours.  Do it for a year, and you’ll clock over 100 hours of movement that you did not have last year. 

NUTRITION & DIET

The nutrition goal is to simply start to think about what I’m eating, and make a few better decisions with those choices.  Like I said here a few days ago … small things add up.  Baby steps.  Fleming’s brought food into the studio this AM … GREAT food.  Mac & cheese, two different preparations of potatoes, steak, cheesecake.  It was heavenly, and I had some.  But not as much as I would have had a month ago.  I prepared a plate with a few bites of steak, a bit of the mac & cheese, and a bit of the one potato that looked the tastiest.  Just two (and by two, I mean three) bites of each.  2011 Jeff would have had a whole steak, a dinner-sized potion of the mac & cheese, and a slice of cheesecake … maybe a slice and a half.

So that’s the extent of my ‘program’ right now.  Easy enough, right?  I know you can do it too, in your own small way.  Just have to decide, right now, to do it.

Baby steps.

Knowing that I’d be watching the Falcons game at a bar with beer and wings in close proximity, and eventually in my belly … I made a smart decision this AM.

Breakfast was a handful of almonds.

I REALLY wanted a Goldberg’s bagel with cream cheese. But I didn’t.

A small decision, but all the small ones add up, right?

I am humbled almost beyond words at the messages I am getting from Bert Show listeners and CNN.com readers, saying that my personal mission to race in Malibu inspires them to change their own lives in some way.  It’s blows my mind to think that I can have that sort of impact.  Thank you.

I am going to focus most of my detailed triathlon stuff here, as not to become one of those Facebook / Twitter people who is constantly updating miles run, calories burned, and target heart rates.  I hate those people.  If I become one, punch me.  If the particulars of my training, nutrition, obstacles, and achievements is of interest to you, check this space often.

In the past 24 hours, I’ve gotten many inquiries from people asking about getting started on their own personal mission of self-improvement, and wondering about the first step.  Here’s my advice, in the form of a proverb spoken by a person far wiser than me:

Little by little, one walks far.

I can’t run 4 miles, bike 18 miles, or swim a half-mile especially not in the same day.  But I know I can walk four miles, and even do some jogging here and there during the walk.  So I’ve done that a few times now.  And I’m no Sanjay Gupta, but I’m going to predict that in 30 days, I’ll be jogging a little more than I am now.  In 90 days, I think I’ll be jogging the whole thing.  And in 180 days, I’ll be RUNNING it. And it all started Monday morning, when I went for a walk.

Find your baby step now.  Take a 20 minute walk today.  Get a bottle of water at the drive-thru instead of a soda.  Have one less cigarette break at work.  Clean one shelf in your disorganized basement.  And when you’re done, decide what your baby step is going to be tomorrow. 

At the end of the month, maybe you walked every other day … that’s 5 HOURS of moving that you didn’t do last month.  Or you drank a dozen less sodas.  You smoked 30 FEWER cigarettes!  Or your basement is halfway clean.

Don’t think of the whole impossible endeavor.  Make one tiny step.

Go.