Well, another month has come and gone. I have back slid a bit, well maybe.
Last month for the 1.5 mile run I recorded 14.5 minutes, which was much better than the 23 minutes I recorded as my baseline. In the last month, I have not been as good at doing the aerobic part of my exercise every day. Part of this is from having the highest priority on finding a job, as it should be. But what I find is that I keep at doing things to find a job, and all of the sudden it is past the time that I should have started prepping for dinner. Or something else has come up that I forgot about, like a daughters tennis match. Or maybe the blog writing took longer than expected. A multitude of reasons have cause this to be missed once or twice a week in the last month.
This month I ran 16 minutes on the treadmill, and I went back and repeated it a second to make sure I wasn’t just sloughing off the first try. I have a hard time thinking that I could have ran 1.5 minutes faster a month before. I’m thinking that this 14.5 was wrong, especially knowing how often I mess up the times. This combined with the knowledge that I have gotten stronger and improved aerobically this month makes it hard for me to understand this time. This has a negative effect on the overall fitness score.
I have managed to do the weight lifting each and every time so far. This is getting harder and more painful than when I first started. Lifting the weights until your muscles failed is tough and I don’t think it gets easier. I need to learn how to enjoy this part.
June brought the kids home from school and into the house. This has cause disturbance in all areas. My ability to control my diet has diminished somewhat. My processes for cleaning the house and grocery shopping have all been strained. Adding another meat eater/junk food junky into our family group has changed the dynamics of the meals and food that is available for my consumption. Even my job searching has been made more erratic.
On the job front, I like the searching process and the networking processes that I have in place. I think it is just a matter of time before I make the connection with a good position. I look to continue as I have been and to look for ways to continue to increase my networking. I fear that the summer doldrums have started in the job market. People who work are taking their vacations and things start to slow to a crawl in July and August. I hope this isn’t the case, but it appears to be. The news talks about a more fearful double dip recession, I don’t buy that as anything more than their normal fear mongering, at least not yet.
On the home remodel, the shower surround we ordered came in. It took 6 weeks and came in damaged. Instead of reordering, so we decided to move to plan B. We will tile instead. We are in the process of ordering cabinets for the downstairs, this should be complete this week. So I think we are making good progress in this area.
Having just celebrated a birthday, and just as I start the month of July, I need to recommit my efforts in the first four areas that I was working:
- Finding a job
- Getting in better health
- Becoming the House Dad
- Remodeling the house.
Numbers wise, things are going well. In the last month I lost an additional 2 lbs. That is a total of 6 since taking the baseline. And this is down an additional 5 from earlier this year. I am happy with my progress here.
In body measurements everything is headed in the right directions with the best showing losing about 2 3/4 inches in the gut measurement.
In the physical fitness, my score went down a bit due to the change in the 1.5 mile run. That accounted a difference of 3.5 points to the score, but I improved the other three categories ( Crunches +.5, Push Up +.1, and Body Composition (gut measurement) +1.5). All toll, my score went from 67.4 last month to 66 this month. This is still over double the baseline from the month before of 27.45 and still a ways from passing (75).
I’m happy with the change to my fitness. My muscle strength continues to improve. And my aerobic endurance is improving and is an area I should focus on in July.
As for the numbers Job wise, I will share these in a later post.
I wish I could say, I had a new job lined up that pays more than Boeing, has better benefits, and I have arranged to start after a needed vacation. I have lost 15% of my original weight. The house is in perfect order and the remodeling is complete. But short of that, I am happy with my progress, feel hopeful for the future and loving the summer weather that has just started in Seattle.
Life is Good.
Today’s quote:
"The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be."
--William James (1842-1910)
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