When I changed my diet to pescetarianism in January 2011, it only took a few months for me to realize that there were other aspects of my life that I could change as well. Since April 2011, when I got off the couch, my fitness regime consisted of stepping and other small exercises on the Wii Fit, work outs on the iPhone app Nike Training Club (NTC), and then weekly power walks in preparation for a half-marathon. Combined with my pescetarian diet and calorie counting (thanks to the LoseIt! iPhone app), I was able to lose about 25 lbs from April through August. August through November, I didn't do too much exercise except for those weekly training walks. I still watched my calorie intake and kept mainly with the pescetarian diet, but I wasn't pushing myself physically.
I mentioned a few months ago that a friend and I were going to complete the Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon in November... well we did! It was an awesome experience, but torturous at the same time. We walked the entire 13.1 miles and I won't lie, it was rough. The day was great as a whole though. The race started on Bay Street downtown Savannah and at 530 am in November, it's not warm. We froze our asses off until it was our corral's turn to start (corral 25 mind you.. the last one). Then we were off. We kept our pace the entire way and finished right where we (well I at least) had expected at just under 3:30. My body for sure knew that it had never walked that far before (10 miles was the longest training walk we did in advance) but we held in there and finished! I was so proud and exhausted and hungry! Still not sure if I ever want to do it again.... but we'll see.
The following week, I got back into swimming. Possibly the best decision I could have made on my continued journey for health, fitness and weight loss. I started swimming competitively at the age of 6 and did so through 18. And then I stopped. As soon as I graduated high school, I never got back into the water, until November. A friend (who happens to also be my boss) invited me along to swim with her and some other friends (all amazing women and triathletes) to swim at the US Masters swim practice one morning at 5:30 am. As soon as I got back in the water, I felt at home.
Well, ok, not immediately. The work-outs are generally about 3000 yards and it took me just about a whole month to get to where I could finish them. It wasn't until the first week in January that I was finishing them successfully (watching my intervals, actually building, etc). It was that moment when I felt like I was an athlete. I've been swimming 3 days a week and just love it. I'm so glad I got back into the water. I joined the Master team and I set a personal goal for myself to swim at least 250 miles this year. My new swimming friends have also almost got me convinced to compete in a triathlon (the swimming leg of a relay) in March. Wow... never thought that I would ever be at a place in my life that I would say that.
I described myself the other day as a recovering couch potato. I've also told people that I don't take for granted that there is still a fat kid inside me (I powered through two.. yes.. two.. Krispy Kreme donuts on Wednesday). Although not the most positive outlook, those too ideas keep me moving and motivated. There's no short cuts or excuses and only accountability, consequences and successes. I'm looking to beef up my workouts (more swimming and additional land training in between) in the coming weeks and hopefully make 2012 just as successful.
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