Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New Year's resolutions

Well it is almost that time of the year. Time for New Year’s resolutions, turning a new page, shedding some baggage. Most of us have something to shed other than baggage and yours truly is no exception. No mystery as to the cause. Remember all those wonderful meals and tea-time treats at various safari camps earlier this year? The taste is all but a fond memory now, a vague but pleasurable recollection of sweet and sour, salt and vinegar, tropical and tangy. The two solid handfuls of belly fat which I’ve gained are anything but a sweet memory. They’re just there, breaking the surface of the water in the bath like an unwanted recollection from years ago intruding into your consciousness. Ugh. Not good for the looks and certainly not good for the running. I’m never going to break that 5K personal best with 5kg of blubber slowing me down.


So it’s back to the dietary drawing board one more time. By now I know the recipe: several smaller meals are better than a couple or so big ones; no snacking in-between meals; watch those portion sizes; treat food as fuel and not fun, and don’t be fooled into thinking that you can eat anything you want, just because you exercise a lot. It doesn’t work like that. Just one candy bar consumed in a few minutes of indulgence wipes out the calorie deficit of more than three miles of running. Unless you tackle the intake side of things, you’re never going to make much headway solving the problem.


I’ve made one commitment already which I started with a couple of weeks ago. That is to work with a personal trainer three times a week to improve all-round strength and flexibility. And of course to help me find my long-lost abs. As some of you may know, they abruptly disappeared just like Jimmy Hoffa about 25 years ago and haven’t been seen since. I might post some ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs – we’ll see.


On the running front, there is life in the old bones yet. I’m not keeping track of mileage but will likely total about 20 miles for this week. A good starting point after too many weeks of not being able to do much at all. Of course I have abandoned any thoughts of a good (as in fast) Chevron Houston half marathon on January 18. It will be a very relaxed training run, should be nice not to have any serious time goal for once. One other resolution: to race a 5K or 10K pretty much every weekend from now until March or April. First one coming up: Jan 10 Houston Homeless Run. It has a 10K option but I will opt for the 5K. Need to set a 2010 benchmark and start to improve from there.

1 comment:

Amy said...

Just catching up after the holidays, Bert, and good for you with your goals! I think working with a trainer must be highly motivating. And they don't let you slack off. Good luck!