A New Year brings about an opportunity for re-defining your path in this journey we call life. I am a non-believer when it comes to making resolutions, as these are done spontaneously and without building a foundation on which these resolutions can be sustained. The proper thoughts on “why we are doing this”, “why it is good for me for in the long term”, “what do I want to become” do not factor into the process. I recently completed reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, an excellent book, if you are looking to change your habits. The main premise is to not to focus on your goal, but to pay attention to the system that you are using to get to that goal. If the system is solid, you will eventually get to the goal. The reverse is also true, if your system does not have a good foundation, getting to your goal(s) will be a long road. In order to build a solid foundation, Clear explains the concept of habit stacking, where new positive behaviors are combined with an existing behavior, with the eventual goal of either overriding or complementing the existing behavior. An example would be if you would like to reduce the frequency in which you consume potato chips, you may want to look at either re-designing your physical environment such that your access to potato chips is restricted. Someone might say, “why not just stop purchasing the chips?”. This is more of a drastic step. This should be the goal. I would place the chips upstairs, as I am not motivated to keep running up the stairs to munch on the chips. Eventually I will lose interest in eating potato chips and stop buying them altogether. What does this have to do with my re-establishing and compounding good sustainable habits for 2020? For this I need to go back into 2019, on went well and what did not pan out as expected.
As I look back into 2019, I had many good things happen in my life, both from a work and personal life.
On the family front, my wife and son are also having success’ of their own, from a work and school perspective. My son plays the trumpet, participates in triathlon training, while balancing his school commitments. My wife is working in a job she loves.
On the me front (which is what this post will primarily focus on), I had a successful year as well. On work goals, I have been with my company for close to 24 years. The journey has been exciting with every year presenting a new opportunity for learning. I get to work with some of the most brilliant engineers all over the world, and along the way get to accomplish major milestones and learn new concepts.
On individual non work related goals, I had several successful accomplishments. I listen to audiobooks every week. From the beginning of 2018 till the end of 2019, I completed listening to 120 audiobooks (primarily non fiction). I live to learn so that I can earn how to live! The joy I get from learning new topics, whether it be investing, or reading topics on habit formation, or listening to “Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela, is on a different level. In addition to audiobooks, I listen to several podcasts every week. With the amount of time spent in traffic to work, and also during exercising, I have found a way to fit in a way to learn from audiobooks and podcasts.
In the areas of exercising and health, I managed to run 2247 miles (the most ever in a year). According to my Strava profile, in 2019, I ascended and descended the equivalent of Mount Everest twice. In February 2019, I completed “The Coastal Challenge” in Costa Rica, which is a multi-day/stage event of covering 240km through jungles, mountains and rivers, while dealing with high heat and humidity. I had completed the Marathon des Sables in 2017, and I thought that the Coastal Challenge was much harder. In June 2019, I managed to complete my 4th Comrades Marathon (86km – 90km) in South Africa, though it was my slowest time ever. I don’t think I had a chance to recover fully from the Coastal Challenge. In October, I successfully qualified for the 2020 Comrades marathon, at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. My running year ended with a DNF (Did not Finish) at the BMW Dallas Marathon. It was warm and my body did not cooperate with the conditions. I made the difficult decision to drop out. After discussion with my coach, I took the rest of the year off. Health-wise, my doctor gave me a clean bill of health. His exact words…”your blood results are boring, if everyone came to me with your results, I would be out of a job.”
Areas that did not fare as well were primarily in two areas. I did not sleep well throughout the year, and I gained weight despite running more miles than in previous years. It is my belief that these two factors played a big role in my running, both from an energy and a speed standpoint. Over the last 4 years, I have gone from a 150lbs to 169lbs (the doctor tracks this). I don’t believe that this was all muscle. I sleep from 4 – 5 hrs/night, as I am usually up at 4AM to get my exercise in. If the exercise does not happen in the morning, it does not get done for the day, owing to work and family commitments. While this is good from an exercise perspective, I believe that the lack of sleep compounded itself into other areas of my life.
So what do I want to do differently from 2019? Well I do have a list! In 2020, I want to accomplish all of the below, while sustaining my 2019 successes. The goal is to continue being healthy and improve upon my running speed (I have a goal to hit a sub 4hr marathon eventually). The system that I am putting in place is:
- I want to develop a daily writing habit and become a better writer. A daily writing habit does not equate to a daily publishing habit. I believe along the way, my writing skills will become better. More importantly I plan to use the writing habit to stack along with my eating habits, so that I can hold myself accountable and not be a victim of bad decisions
- I am going to find a way to get more sleep. I managed to get 8 hours of sleep per night during the vacation, and I feel that it did wonders for my mood and for my running. It will be a challenge especially since I have to wake up early to exercise, and also need to balance work and family commitments. But then again, I will probably need to look at reducing time spent on watching TV and social media. This will probably be my biggest challenge, but I am ready to tackle it head on.
- I need to reduce my weight back to the 150lbs range. In previous races, I have done well when I weighed between 150 – 155lbs. I did get down to 145lbs fours years ago, however I do not think that is a sustainable weight. When your pants and shirts start to feel uncomfortable, you know that it’s time to make some positive changes.
- When I successfully kept my weight off, I was on a Whole Foods Plant Based diet for two years (99.99999% vegan). As a vegan, I found it restrictive especially when traveling outside the US, or going out to eat with friends. Starting January 1st I have gone back to starting on being Plant Based. It will be a gradual journey, and I will be flexible when I need to be. In order to increase my chances of success, I am keeping a food diary, and also looking at how to load up more of fiber on my plate, and ask myself why I need to consume meat or animal products. I have also started cooking more at home, making dishes such as vegetable stir Frys and Green Curry vegetables (recipes to be posted in a future blog)
- I purchased a Garmin Fit Scale and am now weighing myself daily. I know that my weight is not going to fluctuate day to day, and I need to look at a longer time frame. Your weight gets recorded on the Garmin Connect app (BMI, body fat, muscle % are recorded too)
- Do Strength Training twice a week. I feel a sense of euphoria after each session, which is different than the runners high. Having a strong core and upper body helps with the running. I had periods of time when I was actively weight training in 2019 and periods when I was not. The results were directly proportional to my race results.
In order to keep these 2020 resolutions/build these new habits, I am recording my eating, workouts, and sleep habits on a daily basis. I also plan to post once a week/twice a month to keep progress of what I am doing. This will keep me accountable and shows my commitment to the process. I believe that doing these four habits over and over again will help will build a more solid foundation for me to be a better runner. Efforts compounded over time will eventually lead to an outcome (hopefully the desired outcome). Success is not achieved via instant gratification.
If you have read this far, thank you :-). In the future I will also post recipes of the dishes that I cook! Wishing you all a successful 2020 also.