Bringing in the New Year!

Thursday, January 02, 2014 · Mike Davis

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year! We are now well into 2014 and my goals for the year now become my realities. Yes some might call them resolutions but for me I have goals that become my reality and typically I am pretty good at staying with them. The key for me is to have a thought out goal that makes sense and does not die the minute I mess up. I am a firm believer in the continuous challenge of self improvement and until the Good Lord takes me, I hope that I never stop improving in some way. Now moving ever so close to my 51st birthday I understand better than ever before that while fitness is king, diet is just as important. In fact like many I have always said that I run so I can eat deserts and while that's true, I am realizing that my eating habits are most likely negating much of my running and strength training. I would like to believe that I am burning so many calories that I can comfortably continue with my current diet, but is not the case or even close. So suffice to say my goal for 2014 is to instill a much better discipline as far as my diet. I have recently been reading various studies on "intermittent fasting" and I am intrigued by the findings. Here is a link to a story written by a Dr. Mercola: http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/12/20/intermittent-fasting-weight-loss.aspx After reading as much information as I could gather, I have decided to give this intermittent fasting plan a try. This plan definitely defies various beliefs such as breakfast being important, but there seems to be some degree of success on multiple levels such as weight loss, mental edge and energy. I am unsure if this will work as advertised for me, but I am going to give it a go. Many people use an 18-6 plan, eating from 2 meals between 2pm and 8pm, while fasting the remaining hours. After reading Dr. Mercola's plan of not eating 3 hours prior to be bed and not again until 11am the next day, I felt that would work better for me. One saving grace is that I can have black coffee while fasting so that's a blessing. There will be some challenges at times and I will do the best I can, but perfection is not the goal. In Dr. Mercola's piece he says that results are often found in 2 to 3 weeks, though sometimes longer. I will start tomorrow (January 2nd) and do my darndest to create a regular routine for the next 30 days. Be sure to check back to see how things are going. Of course like every other year I have a goal of stronger and healthier running. This is year is different in that I feel I better understand my running gait and what needs to improve in order to run more efficient and healthier. We spent a great deal of the fall helping others look at their running gait and offering tangible ways to improve upon them and much of that advice is what I need to use myself. Understanding body control, footfall and propulsion all play a role in my running efficiency and ultimately my running health so I approach my running and strength training accordingly. Much of our improvement takes a great deal of effort but isn't that how life works! The other night someone commented to me that they didn't think it possible to make changes and I would agree if that's how we approach change, but I rather take the approach of a women I worked with who was in her late 50s who said this: "You gave me three new thing's I can work on!". Change requires attitude and discipline and never taking your eye off of the value of change. I remind myself each and every time I run that I have a goal and that mindset keeps me driving my knee forward while correcting my posture, despite how difficult that can be when I am tired. Today Kathy and I woke up in beautiful Falmouth Massachusetts, put on our winter running gear and ran 6 miles along the Cape Code shore line. The "real feel" temperature was like 10 degrees with a rugged wind, but we moved along the shore line enjoying our first run of 2014. There were some rough patches as a result of taken off the last month from running, but we both were super happy to be out there. What a great way to start the New Year and I also got to use my Garmin Forerunning 620 for the first time! I hope you all had a great start to the new year and I hope that you are ready to rock 2014! Thanks for all the support you gave myself and NFLR in 2013 and look for better stuff in 2014. Happy New Year! Mike