I have gone running twice so far in 2008. That means I have spent as much time exercising in 2008 as I did in all of 2007. By the end of the week I hope to have at least doubled it. I know my exercise habits are pathetic; maybe by blogging about it I will have a little extra motivation.
When I turned 30 las August I told myself I was going to be in the best shape of my life at 30. Today, almost halfway through the year I am close to in the worst shape of my life. I got a lot of catching up to do if I am going to make it.
What does it mean to be in the best shape of my life? For many people it means when they were 10 years old; from what I remember that is when the avg person is in the best shape of their life without training. However, I have several accomplishments that I will need to regain in order to feel comfortable I am in the best shape of my life. They are:
- Be able to run a half marathon. If I include my best time then I will have to run it in under 1:43 (which seems impossible from my performance on the treadmill last night)
- I would like to run a 5k in under 20 minutes (should be easy if I can get in shape to run a half marathon).
- Be able to do 100 pushups without stopping.
- Be able to do 15 chin ups without stopping.
- Be able to bench press my weight.
- Be able to swim a 200m individual medley.
- Be able to mediate for 1 hour.
I think that is the important measures of my health. I should add curls to the list, but it has been so long since I have really lifted weights that I don’t know enough of what to shoot for. However, if I can get to a point where I am in shape to do everything in that list then I think it will be safe to claim “the best shape of my life”.
Right now I can run about three miles, do about 30 consecutive pushups, do 5 consecutive chin ups. I haven’t touched weights in years so I have no idea how much I can bench press. Last summer I did an individual medley in a backyard pool (total 50m?) and it wore me out.
I added the item about meditating b/c I think it is relevant. Maybe other people don’t have a problem sitting still and quiet for an hour; I used to not. These days I don’t know that I can meditate for 10 minutes.
Can you think of any other goals / measures that I should shoot for?
Note: this is not about New Year’s resolutions for me. I only have one New Year’s resolution.
4 Comments
If you want to look into a book about meditation, this one isn’t too bad: http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-Updated-Expanded/dp/0861713214/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200417815&sr=1-1
I would also add to the list: Read at least one book a month.
Jon, I like the idea of including reading. I read a ton, but very few books. I am not sure the medium is as important as the process. I think I want to try to get reading on the list without restricting it to books (while still keeping with the original intent, so maybe magazines and most blogs don’t count).
As a baseline starting point, I ran a 5k in under 30 minutes tonight and did 20 pushups.
Jiminy. Isn’t that enough?!
But as long as we’re piling it on, I would second Jon on the reading of books, and specifically books. Like you, I read a lot, but it’s all short form — newspapers, magazines, blogs, food packages, whatever’s handy. Long form, like novels and biographies, makes for a substantially different experience and I miss it. And I bet you do too. The difference is something akin to 2 minutes meditating while brushing your teeth versus sitting still for an hour. Not the same at all.