A New Year, 1000km to Go

Well, a new year as rung itself in. Being sleep deprived due to a sick 5 month old that we are trying to help learn to sleep through the night (hard when he is up with a hacking cough); our night was decidedly uneventful (if you minus the 2 hours of non-stop prep work for Christmas Part 2 today) as we went to bed our usual "late" time of 11pm.

To clear a couple things up from the previous paragraph:

• "Early" bed-time around here is 10pm. Anything else is late.
  
• Christmas Part 2: Held around New Years when some of the Family comes to visit my wife's side of the family. It consists of gift giving and a second Christmas Dinner (most excellent).

So, with 1000 km in 2008 completed, what is the plan for 2009? First, steady as she goes for the running. Running 1000 km in 2008 kept me on track with running all year and kept my fitness level up all year round. So, for 2009 I will again be running 1000 km. I have thought of adding distance or another sport but things progressed well last year and was a good balance of fitness, work, and family time. Hence, no change.

As for additional goals. I figured that running all year would help me shed a couple pounds and bring me back to my weight of 175 lbs when I am doing regular exercise (and eating properly). Well, the unstated weight goal last year did not materialize. Oh yes, I lost a little. But no where near what I hoped. What went wrong with that one? Well, for starters I never stated it, I never wrote a plan, hence I stuck to no plan.

No plan for me means, "Ahh, I did a big run, how about a donut? Sure." These are the thoughts and actions of sinking ship before it even sets sail. So, for 2009, call it a resolution if you want but I will call it Phase 2 from Mark's Brain, "Reach desired long term weight." (Phase 1 being run 1000 km a year to keep me on the exercise track.)

Phase 2 consists of the following measurable targets:

• Achieve a 10% reduction in body weight at the beginning of 2009. Current weight is 195lb so we are aiming for let's call it a round 20lb weight loss.
  
• 2009 Goal weight is therefore 175lb by Dec 31, 2009.

Phase 2 Strategies:

• Post about this goal on my blog so I have publicly stated my intentions (studies show that this helps one stick to a goal).
  
• Track food daily.
• Figure out target calorie intake and aim to achieve this.
• Cut out crap (opps, I mean the little bit of junk food I still eat, such as the reward donuts). Stick to healthy, whole food rewards such as my favs; dates and almonds.
• Measure the damn dates and almonds.
• Cut out the cream and sugar in my coffees and switch to black or skim. Both very doable for me but I've slipped in the past few months.
  
• Dear I say, post a graph on this web site tracking my weekly/monthly weigh-ins.

Ok, so that is 2009's Phase 1 "1000 km/year" and Phase 2 "Reach desired goal weight" for Long Term Health. Let's see how that works out over the next year.