There was a time.....

I started working out about 18 years ago and for those of you who know my “insane” ways about food and exercise I can say I wasn’t always that way. I am sure my parents would beg to differ about the “insane” way toward food since I have always been a bit “peculiar” when it comes to food. My father would hate to take me to McDonald’s (yes, I was a semi-normal kid way back then!) because I would order a hamburger with just the bun meaning it was ordered plain no additional condiments were needed for me. Of course this isn’t the model McDonald’s prescribes through in their fast food world and invariably we would have to wait for this special item to be cooked. I would swear that McDonald’s invented the “special” parking area for me because it was in front of the drive thru and the restaurant personnel had easy access to “run” out my special order. My father was never fond of taking me to McDonald’s for this particular reason but God love him because he would always wait.

I got off point there which is no surprise!! As I mentioned I haven’t always been crazed about exercise and I do think my food “oddities” have manifested themselves to where I am today. I played some sports in high school but wasn’t very good and all through college I dabbled in working out but never really got into it. I started getting into about one year after getting out of college when I was working in New York City. One of the people I was working with said to me that they thought my suit pants were getting a little tight and that was all it took.

I started to change my diet and started working out regularly. I would work out in the evening after finishing with work and my day wouldn’t end until 9:00 pm and that was clearly before I was married and before we had children. I changed this routine to the morning when I was on a business trip to of all places California and noticed that there was a gym directly across the street from the hotel where I was staying. Instead of working out after work I discovered I could get to the gym get in a workout and be back at the hotel in time for breakfast as my co-workers were just getting up. That would have been 17 years ago and I have mostly prescribed to the early morning workout. I find this to be much better and really I can’t remember how I felt before I started doing this but I do feel great.

There was a point when we moved to Las Vegas that I was waking up at 3:30 am to get to the gym before getting to work. I had to be at work around 6:00 am and I was fastidious about my 2 hour workout back then. Needless to say I didn’t see much of the evening hours and as I was falling asleep around 8:00 at night. That regime lasted about one year and stopped after I left that job for a later starting time and I pushed my wake up time to 5:00 am. That lasted a very long time and it did come full circle as I served my sentence. I would wake up very early especially when I was in fire camp and this was a wonderful regime. I preferred to be tired as early as possible even if it meant waking up at the “dawn’s early light!”

Now my workout regime is still in the morning but with so much flexibility in my job the days of the 3:30 am wake up are few and far between. I still prefer the morning workout and don’t feel right if I am not working out during the morning hours. It is interesting because I was a “regular” at my gym for almost 5 years before I was sentenced and I spent 19 ½ months “away” but when I came back during those early hours the same core group of people were still working out and since I really didn’t “bond” with many of them it was as if I were gone only a week or so!! Time does have a way of moving so quickly and thankfully in recovery I value the time I have every single day.

I was back at the gym this morning and it appears I will be looking for a new place to work out as I start to train for a triathlon. My membership expires in two months and now I need a place to swim. I was looking to join the local YMCA but I was shocked to see that it is actually more expensive than most of the health clubs. There are several nearby health clubs that have swimming pools and although my membership dues will rise it isn’t that much. It will be very interesting training for the triathlon because the one component I have lacked in my training has been swimming and I think this is very good for my training. It appears I have stagnated in my marathon training since my last three marathons have only been separated by 3 minutes; I guess at the very least I am consistent. I do need a change in training and adding the swimming component will be the desired change element. I am very excited about my new endeavor and quite frankly this is good for me because I have a huge tendency to become a creature of habit. This wasn’t so good when I was gambling but does work to my advantage as I move through life in recovery. I do need to break out of my training ways and swimming will add a new dimension.

I only rode the bicycle this morning but had a very good weight training session. I have neglected this segment of my training as I prepared for the marathon. I would only do weight bearing exercises which did help but there is nothing like resistance training to give me that much needed boost. I went through the very good workout and was feeling great and I could tell I would be sore tomorrow. I actually looked forward to being sore because this tells me at the very least I am doing something so my mind becomes satisfied. This could be a sadistic way of looking at things but it I think it is okay as long as I don’t take it too far.