Since moving in late June (for the second time in nine months), I’ve embarked on a bit of a self-improvement program. I’ve been on this kind of kick before in the past, sometimes with positive results while other times were total busts (Did I say 30 by 30? I meant to say 30 during 30).
It’s become abundantly clear to me over the past year that I’m quite mortal. Shin splints once again caused me to shut down my ambitions for a 30 mile run. Shingles sidelined me during the holidays. I also had a nasty bout of sinusitis around the same time that resulted in me passing out in the kitchen. In short, the last 12 months have been among the least healthy of my life. I’ve been riddled with stress, broken down by injuries and worn down by illness.
When this latest move came up in June, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to start over. It began simply enough. In my new place I’m just 5 miles from the Yahoo! Sunnyvale campus. I walk 1.5 miles to light rail every morning and ride that to a station near Yahoo!. I get off and walk the final half mile. On a good week, like last week, I clear 16 miles of walking (some nights I get a ride home from work to go somewhere else, like softball). The walking has been great. Sure I show up to work a little sweaty, but it’s worth it. I know I’m doing something good for my body. More importantly, it’s been fantastic for my mental health. I get around 40 minutes of time each way to think about stuff. A lot of the time I think about work, venting any frustrations (I yell at people who aren’t actually there…it helps more than you think) and thinking through any issues. Getting that all out of the way during my walk probably makes me a more pleasant person in the office and at home.
I’ve also started eating much better. No more binging on terrible food. I eat three moderate meals and (usually) three snacks each day. On the weekends I’ll splurge a little…a nice reward for walking 10+ miles during the weekdays. I’ve stayed almost entirely away from soda, minus the six pack of Weinhard’s Root Beer I spread out over the week. Now that we’re back in a real house again, we’ve been having more home cooked meals as well (Lisa’s done all the cooking so far…I can’t take credit, yet).
One of the biggest changes I’ve made has been my sleeping pattern. It used to be that I would stay up until 1-2am and not wake up until 7am or later. I always felt like I was playing catchup on sleep during the weekend. Waking up the morning left me feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. Since we moved, I’ve been waking up at 6am, getting myself into bed between 10pm and 12am (usually closer to 10pm). I’ve been doing a bit of reading up on sleeping patterns (this article on waking up without an alarm clock is pretty good) and incorporating that lately and it’s really helped me to wake up in the morning without feeling like my head is full of rocks.
Lastly, I’ve started doing a three day a week boot camp class at the company gym. Our instructor Russell takes it as a personal challenge to maximize damage to my body. I’ve done three days so far and I can tell that if this class doesn’t kill me, it will surely make me stronger. Every day is a massive endurance challenge with various mixtures of cardiovascular and resistance training. This is the diluted yuppie version of boot camp too…this isn’t even the hard core boot camp where some guy screams at you until you give him 500 good pushups and then your squad mates beat you with socks full of soap bars because you screwed the pooch for everyone.
In the end, it’s all for the greater good. Today, while walking home, was one of the first times in a long time that I felt REALLY good, mentally and physically (yes, I’m sore…but it’s the good sore). I’ve been at this for the past 4 weeks now and it’s finally showing signs of paying off. Sing it Michael.
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change, yey
Na na na, na na na, na na na na oh ho
having a kid really helps in the “waking up without an alarm clock” thing.
as for, the walking. when i worked at sony, i did the lightrail thing also and had about the same walk as you did. and i agree, the walk did wonders both for my physical and mental well-being. it’s amazing how stressful driving is, and once that is taken away, life really does get better. you forgot to mention the riding part. my ride on the train was great. i could write in my journal, listen to music, read a book/mag and just relax before/after work.
My ride on light rail is bumpy and only 10 minutes, so it’s hard to get anything done on there (I tried writing in my notebook today and it looks like I was writing with a seismograph).
As for having kids being a way of helping to wake up without an alarm…doesn’t the kid count as an alarm?
[...] little while ago, Ryan posted about some positive lifestyle changes, including a lot in the realm of health and [...]