My aspiration is......

After my post last week on aspirations, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about why I do what I do and where I want to be. While it may sound corny it think I can summed up as:

I want to forever at a high quality life.

Firstly what does forever mean? That could be a topic for a completely different argument that could only be enhanced with copious amounts of alcohol but for the context of this opus lets define forever as "as long as possible." I was riding with someone a few weeks ago and he was talking about how he was so overweight he got "the" stomach surgery. After the surgery he lost 115 pounds and his fitness was now to the point where he was riding a 50 mile or so group ride at a moderate pace. His doctor told him the surgery added 10 to 15 years to his life. Debatable on the duration, yes but I realized that an almost 300 pound guy with suspect family cardiac history and high blood pressure is not in the best position to maximize the length of his life. So, if I compare myself today against where I would need to be to maximize my life, what would the differences be?

• My weight cannot be where it is. Doctor says that my BMI needs to be less that 30 to not be clinically obese. That means someone who is my height needs to weigh less than 230lbs.
• I take high blood pressure medicine. With the recent stress in my life, I've had to adjust the medication and not in a good way. The goal would be to not have to take any at all.
• I had to get screened for life insurance recently. One of their key indicators was waist size where a man's waist over 40 inches raised flags. I don't know how fair and valid this "rule of thumb" is because I would assume that it should be different for a man of 6'2" as compared to a man of 5'6" but lets go with it. My waist is currently well over 40". In fact, I think the last time it was less than 40" was during the Carter administration.
  
• Sugar - My last blood test, while not diabetic, was to the point where it might be something to keep an eye on for a while. I don't want to have to "keep an eye" on anything. Again, family history isn't helping here.
• Sleep apnea - There was a time when I did a sleep study and the doctors determined that I had sleep apnea. They gave me a machine and a mask to sleep in. I never used it but lost weight and stopped snoring (according to my wife because I have had no evidence of snoring myself). With my recent weight gain, she says I'm starting to snore again. Got to fix that too.

This is where I need to be but not how I will get there but after I do what needs to be done to live forever I still need to answer "what is a quality life?"

Stay tuned for the plan and the definition.

I'm in?

ING New York City

Marathon

November 4, 2012

Registration status: Accepted

Is this good or bad?

Quote of the week -Jim Rohn

"Don't wish it were easier. Wish you were better." - Jim Rohn

An almost visit to CitiField

"A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while." - Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh

A few weeks ago I decided to get tickets for my family to see the Mets play. After cross referencing everyone's schedule I found that there was only one game that all of us were free for before summer. A frightening concept but I went online and got the tickets. Only after the fact I saw that the game was supposed to be Tom Seaver Bobble head day. Score!

The weather here has been dry to the point where brush fires are breaking out. Of course the day of the game called for rain starting sometime in the afternoon with the heavy stuff coming in later at night. The game was scheduled to start at 1:10.

We decided to go early to make sure we got our bobble heads and wouldn't have to fight the crowds for lunch. When we left it was just starting to drizzle. I put the sports radio station on to keep up with what was happening. As soon as we got to the Citi Field though we saw cars leaving the lot. The radio only then announced that the game was postponed.

We couldn't get into the stadium for a dog for lunch so we drove over the 5 Napkin burger in Astoria instead. The rain got harder as the day went on and looking back at it, it was a wise choice to cancel the game. It wouldn't have been nice for those in the stands or on the field. CAVEAT: I really didn't mind the rain since our seats were under an overhang.

Now I have to find another game that works with the schedules. I'm sure the Mets will be in last place by the time we are all free to go to another game.

PS: I got an email at 1:25 saying that the 1:10 game was cancelled and would be made up as part of a double header the next day. Would have been nice to get that a little earlier. Bobble heads will be given out in May but we are booked that day.

Aspirations, commitments and goals.

I read something today that resonated with me so I thought I'd share. The actual sentence had to do with corporate strategy but I thought it somewhat relevant to athletic pursuits with a bit of a slant. The phase that triggered my thought process was to "separate aspirations from commitments." In the corporate world I typically equate commitments with tangible goals (for reviewing employee performance). This equating got me thinking about my aspirations and goals for endurance sports.

Although I've signed up for a few events this year, none of them really has gotten me to make training for them a priority. I have a couple of century rides scheduled in May and a longer ride in June. I've been doing long rides so I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to finish. I haven't been doing the HIIT training that I should be. Yes, that type of training is hard. I haven't been watching what I'm eating and I'm getting way too heavy. Swimming and running has been deprioritized even though it may not be something done on purpose. In short, my performance has slipped and there are obvious reasons as to why.

Why haven't I gotten jazzed for these events? I think that it has to do with my aspirations not being clear. In the past, my aspiration was finishing an Ironman. I made a commitment to myself and defined a set of goals, macro and micro, to get there. It was a focus and I got it done.

I realized I don't have an easily defined aspiration now. The aspiration doesn't need to be something as epic as an Ironman but I think my aspiration needs to be somewhat of an elevator pitch that I can articulate in 10-15 seconds. It could be related to body composition/weight or performance in a Oly tri or perhaps even Ironman again in 2013. I plan on taking the next few weeks to define it and probably will adjust this blog to reflect it, whatever it will be.

I was talking to a friend on the phone this week and mentioned that my weight was going up. He commented,"well you fixed that before so I'm sure you can do it again." Time to start getting it done but define that aspiration first.

Stay tuned.

Quote of the week - Malcolm Forbes

"Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are." - Malcolm Forbes

Quote of the week - William Faulkner

"Every so often the dog has to battle the bear just so he can call himself a dog again." - William Faulkner

Quote of the week - Henry Ford

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." - Henry Ford