The Powers of Habits

I've been reading a great book by Charles Guhigg, "The Power of Habit".

It was recommended by my friend Niki Mathias on her blog "Five Flat Tires" and it is fascinating to learn more about how humans work, especially our brains. As I started to spend more time working towards being healthier, one of my mantras was "A good habit is as easy to adopt as a bad one". Whether it is eating better or exercising more I figured that I just needed to give myself enough time to let a habit develop and I'd be on my way. Turns out it worked!

Little did I know that there's quite a bit of science behind that simple little mantra. Much of the learning by scientists, physicians, and others has been done in the last 10-15 years, especially with regard to the brain. This is where Guhigg's book is so helpful. It brings the science to me in a way I can understand it and actually spend a fair amount of time contemplating it and how it relates to me.

I want to restate a paragraph from Guhigg's book here to illustrate how important a simple change in a habit like exercise is and the ripple effect it can have on your life and on those around you.

"...Take for instance, studies from the past decade examining the impacts of exercise on daily routines. When people start habitually exercising, even as infrequently as once a week, they start changing other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly. Typically, people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. It's not completely clear why. But for many people exercise is a keystone habit that triggers widespread change. "Exercise spills over," said James Prochaska, a University of Rhode Island researcher. "There's something about it that makes other good habits easier."

Guhigg notes the specific studies and provides other examples of how habits are so important to us. It is simple but not easy, much like most anything that is life changing. Pick the book up and learn more, it's fascinating!

Saturday 7 January

Weigh-Ins for Brown's Boot Camp today to start of January. Weighed in at 250.5 at home after post-run shower. Had breakfast of 1 cup of Special K cereal with 1 cup of 1% milk and 1/2 cup of blueberries.

Forgot to take my BP this morning but it was 118/82 yesterday morning, very good. My doctor said if it is consistently under 120 for three months I can get off the meds. Cool!

Ran about 4.5 miles this morning at 8:00. North on La Canada from Naranja to Moore Road and back down. I need to measure this distance in my car to get a good mileage reading. Felt very good. Ran the uphill portion in 22 minutes and the downhill in 20.5 for a total of 42.5, 9:44/mile. Todd Jarkovsky slowed down to honk hello. I miss seeing Todd at BBC regularly.

Folks from BBC are running 8 miles tomorrow morning. I would love to go with them but having run today and running 8 miles tomorrow kind of screws up my just created training plan by eliminating a day of rest on Sunday so I'm gonna skip it. Don't want to overdo things and ruin my whole plan.

I'm Gonna Run A Half Marathon

It's been a long time that I've written in this blog. I've been a bit busy with another blog I created about my soup making, cocinacaldo.blogspotcom.

I have noticed that I sometimes need an outlet for other things going on and have thought of my Middle Age blog but have not taken advantage of it until now.

As the title of this entry indicates I've committed to run in a half marathon in early June. This is a next step in some really good progress I've made in my fitness. I've lost over 20 pounds since October and 50 since I started with Brown's Boot Camp in June 2009. The most surprising thing coming from my physical activity is my growing affinity for running. Since high school I've had shin splints that I used as an excuse to not do any running. The shin splints even caused enough discomfort to limit my walking. When I started boot camp in 2009 the shin splints were a problem but I pushed through the discomfort and after a few months they just went away and have not been a problem since.

I now am running regularly outside of my boot camp workouts. I have run a few 5Ks and was looking for a goal to have in 2012 and the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in San Diego on June 3 seemed a perfect fit. There's a marathon and half marathon here in Tucson but not until December, too long to wait. There's a Rock & Roll marathon and half in Phoenix in late January, too soon. A friend mentioned the San Diego event so I checked it out and the date of June 3 gives me plenty of time to work up to the right miles and you can't beat SD in June. I've created a 21 week training plan that gets me to 13 miles pretty gradually and incorporates my boot camp work. This should be fun