Guiding Principles - Focus on Continuous Improvement

Of all of my guiding principles, this is the one that keeps driving me. As stated in previous blog posts, I get bored easy. Focusing on improving keeps me engaged which in turn keeps me motivated. The beauty of running, is that there is always room for improvement. That is true with bicycling and swimming as well. No matter how far I can run, I try to push myself to run farther. No matter how fast I run, I push myself to run faster.

When I started off running 2 years ago, I couldn't even run 1/4 mile without having to stop and rest. After 2 months of training, I was able to complete a 5K with a 15:30 min/mi average time. Tonight I completed my first run of an 8 week training program leading up to a 10K race. My training run was a little longer then a 5K and I averaged 11:06 min/mi. That improvement certainly didn't happen over night. It took running a lot of miles, but it was that improvement that drove me.

My current training program involves speed training and focuses on improving my running pace. I have a goal to run the 10K in April with a 10:00 min/mi average. Every time that I reach a goal, I immediately set another one.

This concept can be applied to almost everything in life, and I try to do just that. Of course, not every run breaks a personal record, but I make sure that even those runs help me to improve for the next one. In this life, make sure that you are your toughest competitor. To be the best you, you have to beat the best you so aim high and keep on improving!

Guiding Principles - Variety is Key

I find variety to be important in staying on track as it prevents me from getting bored or burned out with something. When it comes to diet, eating a variety of foods helps me to avoid cravings and also prevent burn out. I know many people that can handle eating the same thing every day. For example, my dad often eats raw carrots and celery for lunch every day. If I did that, after a couple of weeks I would never want to eat a raw carrot again. Another advantage of eating a variety of foods is it allows me to both sprinkle in foods that I really like but that aren't very good for me to help prevent cravings. In the same way, it helps me to include foods that I really don't like, but that are very good for me without having to force myself to eat them all of the time.

I have also come to learn the importance of variety when it comes to exercise and training. For the first year and a half, the only type of exercise I did was running. Although I was able to slowly improve my running over time, it wasn't until my focus changed to weight loss that I started drastically improving my run times as well as losing weight. Although running is still a big focus of mine, I have been including swimming and biking for my triathlon training. I have also started walking, weight lifting, and circuit training. By including a variety of exercises, I have been able to improve the health of my entire body and become a better athlete overall. Similar to what I mentioned with food, variety also helps prevent burnout of my favorite exercises and allows me to add in exercises that I don't care for without having to do them all of the time.

Guiding Principles - Avoid Extremes

Going to the extreme is something that I have done, as well as seen others do more times then I can count. I'm sure you know the feeling. One morning you wake up energized to change the way you eat, or start working out more. Maybe it is a New Years resolution, or maybe you watched an inspiring episode of Extreme Weight Loss or The Biggest Loser the previous night. It is that motivation that drives you to declare "I will never snack between meals again" or "I am completely done with junk food" or "I'm going to spend 2 hours at the gym every day" or even "I'm going to head outside and run a 5K" (even though you haven't run at all in years).

I believe in my past experiences, this is misguided motivation. What I have learned is that going to the extremes rarely lasts. After a couple of days without chocolate, I crave it so much that I stop at the gas station for a candy bar. Or maybe I use running that 5k as an excuse to have just 1 snack, that turns right back into my old eating habits. The truth is, there is no such thing as a sustainable extreme. The diet and exercise industry has convinced us that going to extremes is the only way to lose weight and stay healthy.

I have become a firm believer in starting small and building up over time. For example, when I started to focus more on my diet, I started by decreasing the amount of diet pop that I was drinking and also adding a fruit and vegetable to each meal that I ate. After those became habit, I started making my own breakfasts and lunches instead of eating out all of the time. Next I worked on reducing portion sizes at my meals and eliminating items that weren't needed. Now I am to the point that I am focus on snacking less often and I try not to eat after 6 or 7 at night. All of this happened over the course of 3 - 4 months and it has given me time to really get used to it. It has also shown me how little I actually need to eat to provide the necessary energy to support my exercise and training.

As far as exercise goes, I learned a long time ago that starting too fast out of the gates will just lead to burn out and/or injury. Our bodies are awesome and can do some amazing things, but it is important to build them up over time. This is a big reason that I follow the training programs that I do, it allows me to increase the distance I run, slowly, overtime. It is true that a walk around the block won't burn enough calories to show a difference on the scale, but if one block today leads to another tomorrow and then eventually a mile or 2 a month from now then you are really onto something.

Sustainability is really what I am going for. When I decide to set a new goal or try something new, the first question I ask myself is, "Can I live with doing this forever?"

Guiding Principles - Use Common Sense

Other then a Personal Wellness class  and maybe a couple of core coaching classes at UNI, I have no formal training when it comes to exercise and nutrition. That being said, I feel that, like most people, I have enough common sense to get by when it comes to diet and exercise.

Here are some examples of what I mean by using common sense:

• Thanks to my education on the food pyramid in grade school (is that even still a thing?) I know that it is good to include vegetables and fruits in my diet. Not only do they provide many vitamins and other good things for me, but they also help to fill me up so I don't eat as much other food. 
• Smaller portion sizes are better then larger portion sizes
• Baking fish and chicken is healthier then frying it
• Nuts, granola, raisins and fruit are healthier snacking options then candy, chips, and chocolate
• Some exercise is better then no exercise

I could list a million of these, and I feel that all of them are straight forward. The idea here is to keep it simple and make the obvious choice. By focusing on small decisions like those listed above, it allows me to do many small things that add up to big results. 

Guiding Principles - Introduction

Other then the Hal Higdon running programs that I use, I don't really follow any formal plans for weight loss and I go out of my way to avoid fad diets. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about how I could explain what I do and how it has helped me become successful. Below I have listed some general principles that I am following. Please note that this is not a guide for anyone else to follow, but instead an explanation of what I am doing.

Patrick's principles for weight loss and training:

• Use Common Sense
• Avoid Extremes
• Variety is Key
• Focus on Continuous Improvement
• Habits Over Will Power
• Long Term Over Short Term Goals
• Evaluate Priorities
• Surround Yourself with Support

Over the next couple of weeks, I will post a blog about each of these principles so be sure to check back often for updates.