Getting into the Spirit of Running

Since August 2010 I stopped going to the Gym continuously and have not returned. I got so used to working out with an awesome personal trainer and my good friend Pedro, I know for a fact that I will not get the same results I get when I train with him when I train on my own. So just the fact of adding more tasks and staying updated to meet my training goals adds heavily to my already full Schedule.

I had stopped running even before August 2010. I had just been eating as healthy as I can (although every day I realize I can do better) but the fact that I am vegetarian does not mean I will not gain weight if I am not moving around.  Since October I have also started the transition to becoming Vegan that I will leave for a post on Veglatino.com.

Wake Up Call

Last October while we ended up having a water outage I went to a friends house to shower and stepped on their scale. I found myself to be at 205 pounds, which at 5’8″ is not healthy at all. I had also noticed in a few pictures that I had gained more pounds that I would have liked. Once I saw this on the scale I immediately started making a plan to cut down on a lot of the crap I was eating and stop drinking vegan friendly beer and liquor.

I quickly cut out dairy products and also decided not to have beer or good old Jack Daniels. For some reason in my life I go through long periods of not having any alcohol but on occasions I might have a bit more than I should have which translates to weight gained.

Putting My Running Shoes On

Once I had settled on quick changes to my diet the exercise part came into the picture. Conversations with my good friend Gabriel Pagan (@therealgabo) had also motivated me to start running again. Gabriel not only is a great business, parenting, and overall life mentor he also has a unique way of motivating people to accomplish their goals.

I dusted off my running shoes, which barely had a few dozen miles. I bought them a few weeks before I stopped running almost two years earlier. I started running 15 to 20 minutes but I quickly started getting pain on my knees caused by overweight, lack of exercise, and me trying to run like if I was in shape.

Diet Goes With Conditioning

At one point my Knees was not only sore it was hurting so I took two weeks off from running waiting for it to get better and I did research on the possibilities of why I might be hurting. I was curious to find that I had to adjust my diet to make sure I was receiving enough protein.

Given that I am vegetarian and now trying to Go Vegan I ended up looking for nutritious foods that will supplement my protein while keeping a plant based diet.

Once I had my diet in place I started listening to my body and I do stop when any discomfort starts feeling like pain. I started running 1 mile, then 2 miles and over a few months I have worked myself up towards running 6-7 miles every other day. Also the fact that I am running in Vibram 5 Finger Shoes which helps you condition your feet and make them stronger made the transition even more challenging.

Celebrating the Small Goals

I had not run more than 3-4 miles in about 10 years. Back then I was in the Military and I weighed around 165-170 that is 30 pounds lighter than what I am now. Reaching the milestone of 7 miles is something I have celebrated within myself. I have also lost approximately 10 pounds since I started.

Future Goals

Before April I Want to be able to be running 10 Miles I have taken it slower than usual since I moved over to Vibram 5 finger shoes which made me change the way I run with the benefit to make my feet stronger (which translates into more muscles work and sore feet).

My next post will be on the running gear I use and I will be talking about my experience with the Vibram 5 Finger Shoes in a future post.

I also want to lose about 5 more pounds by April. I want to make sure I keep my goals attainable since if I meet the goal previous to that date it will only motivate me more.

Gaining momentum into training and weight loss is critical your mind will play tricks on you and you have to find a way to motivate yourself and continue with the progress.

Stay tuned since I will create a post on items that make my run more pleasant and keep me focused on my running goals.

What fitness or health goals do you have?

Is there anything holding you back from obtaining them?