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<p>I think that last part is key!</p>
<p>Regarding Dad II: I understand wanting to lose a lot of weight or wanting to improve performance relatively quickly but what I’ve learned over the last several years of weight loss is that patience and managing for the long run is needed. I’m up several pounds from my injury and I had a tough Spring schedule and it looks like a tough rest of the summer and I know that there’s damage to both the workout and nutrition sides that comes with stress - family, work, or simply car repairs. You get better at this with time and experience. I know that I’m going to get over the injury and that I can make a decent effort though nowhere near perfect. And the hope and optimism really help in the process.</p>
<p>I don’t set huge goals in short time-frames but I do set goals and give myself lots of time to get there. The people here help - they are cheerleaders and wonderful sources of knowledge. We all want you to succeed over the long haul.</p>
<p>It’s a different way of living life (thinking about food and physical activity) which is why it’s about the long haul. </p>
<p>I mentioned to my H that I had a goal of losing X pounds but at the rate I was going, I wouldn’t accomplish it til Y date. He said - what’s the rush? You’re clearly doing all the right things - it will happen.</p>
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<p>When paddling, most of your power comes from your large back muscles (the same ones that you use when doing pullups or rowing) as you rotate your torso. Your smaller arm muscles will get tired much more quickly.</p>
<p>[How</a> to paddle: kayak technique - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUgDjWQPMsI]How”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUgDjWQPMsI)</p>
<p>BCEagle- great post.</p>
<p>pizzagirl- I think the answer for all of us to “what’s the rush” is that we fear we will give up or backslide. We seem to (incorrectly) think that if we can magically get there FAST, it will all be OK and we will never slip back into our poor food choices or laziness again! I think everyone likes to see immediate results/weight loss, but sometimes it takes some time.</p>
<p>I don’t think DadII has started the marathon training yet. If I were him and I really didn’t think I was making enough progress, I would look at what I’m doing. Maybe Insanity isn’t the right thing?</p>
<p>A cautionary tale for you P90X fans:</p>
<p>[Man</a> says one day of P90X sent him to the emergency room](<a href=“Man says one day of P90X sent him to the emergency room”>Man says one day of P90X sent him to the emergency room)</p>
<p>I can believe that.</p>
<p>I’ve done the easiest P90X workout - the stretching one. That’s a decent workout. I’ve done parts of the abs workout. If your body is telling you to quit - it’s not a bad idea to quit.</p>
<p>Short workout for me today. Little bit of lifting. May go for a walk this evening…</p>
<p>Should have been a kb class day, but cancelled due to holiday weekend. So the trainer had time, so did a session.
He’s goes all upper body on me this time. In addition to the usual pre-lift stuff, it’s bench press, OH BB press, TRX rows, and goodness, what are these?, DB bicep curls and tricep push downs, which are seriously pathetic. He gives me this look, and asks incredulously, really? Yeah, brah, really – we’ve done nothing directly for arms in months, not gonna pull that out of nowhere. I had forgotten how all those smaller muscles burn when worked in isolation. I will be sore tomorrow.</p>
<p>Guessed right on a hike selection today. It was 87 degrees in the parking lot on the Kancamagus Hwy. A big climb in that heat and humidity would have been brutal. I did a beautiful 7.5 mile out and back along a river to Franconia Falls. Pretty much a flat hike by White Mountain standards. 700 feet of elevation. No rock flume into the swimming hole, this time. After 10 days of rain, the water was way too high and dangerous. So, I just sunned on a rock, dangled my feet in the water, and took a little snooze in the sunshine before hiking back.</p>
<p>Came home and made a Bobby Flay orange ancho vinaigrette for shrimp and salad.</p>
<p>^ sounds like a perfect day all around.</p>
<p>So glad we had the carb discussions. Got a phone call Monday that child across the country is in the emergency dept with a blood sugar of 450!!! Yikes no history of diabetes. Hopped on a plane and we are navigating doctors and doing lots of label reading and learning about diabetes. Not sure yet if type 1 or 2 but appears to be late onset type 1. Boy you never know. This is my division one athlete. Congrats on everyone’s great workouts.</p>
<p>Track day. Mile warmup/warmdown. 6 x 100s in flats. 6 x 100s in spikes. Core/stretch/strength on the artificial turf. Body was covered with rubber pieces!</p>
<p>I actually like setting outrageous goals like Dad2. Really there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. There’s nothing like reaching a goal - for yourself and for the naysayers! Even at our age, I still think the mental battle is more challenging than the physical battle when it comes to diet and exercise.</p>
<p>Busyparent- how terrible! I hope it all turns out OK. Keep us posted. What a shock!</p>
<p>I think it is OK to set stretch goals, but don’t be surprised when things don’t happen on the timetable you expect.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with crazy goals, but to expect your path to achieving that goal to be a perfectly linear path, without any ups or downs, and to obsess over every slight deviation from that path, is just not realistic, and not healthy IMO.</p>
<p>Take dadII’s marathon goal - he read somewhere that for every pound you lose, you can run 2 secs/mile faster, and immediately calculated that to reach his target time, he needed to lose 25 pounds, and he had only 2 months to do it.</p>
<p>3 pounds per week of weight loss is extremely aggressive, and even if he somehow lost the weight, there is no guarantee that his running time would decrease according to the “formula”. In fact, it almost certainly won’t. In the meantime, he drives himself crazy every time his weight fluctuates up a tenth of a pound.</p>
<p>busyparent:</p>
<p>Oh, that’s not the news you want to hear.</p>
<p>busyparent - please keep us updated. Will be thinking of you.</p>
<p>3 pounds per week of weight loss isn’t healthy, unless one is extremely obese. And even so, even someone who is obese can’t sustain 3 pounds per week past the first couple of weeks. Don’t the medical experts say that the healthiest is to aim for 0.5 - 1.5 pounds a week, keeping in mind that there will always be exceptions to the rule and not to lose heart if you stay at the same level for a bit? As long as you’re doing the right things, it will happen.</p>
<p>And you’re absolutely right – losing weight doesn’t “make” someone run 2 secs/mile faster. Practicing running is what makes you run faster. </p>
<p>I had run my first 2 5K’s last year, and had a goal to run the Shamrock Shuffle (8K) earlier this year. It didn’t happen. I wasn’t there in terms of training becdause of other things going on in my life. So I revamped my goal to do 2 more 5K’s. I did the one already a few weeks ago and am doing another one in the early fall. It’s really ok that i revamped my goal. There will be more 8K’s, there will be 10K’s and if I decide I want to go for a half marathon or marathon, they’ll be there. I wonder what is behind Dad II’s determination to actually run the marathon? That’s a LOT of work. If the goal is weight loss, might it be better to focus on the weight loss, and then once that is accomplished, start work on marathon training?</p>
Oh dear, busyparent – hope everything turns out ok. Best of wishes.
<p>Gosh, busyparent, hugs to you! Hope your kid is going to be ok. Just a side note. The diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes does not necessarily mean the end of your son’s athletic career - Gary Hall’s Jr story - he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes pretty late, but managed to keep competing despite the challenges. More hugs!!!</p>
<p>I’m just about to witness one of those beautiful HIMom’s sunsets. 
Swam in the ocean for an hour while trying to use my arms only - to spare the knees for the tomorrow’s long run. The hotel has an amazing workout room with a dozen of LifeFitness treadmills, a number of ellipticals and stationary bikes. There is also a separate weight room with all sorts of machines and free weights/kettlebells. A real heaven for a CC workout junkie! :)</p>