by Dan | Jan 17, 2013 | Exercise, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Here Steve and I are following the marathon showing off our medals. It was very warm and humid, but we had a great day! Steve finished his first marathon, and is now ready to take on some more.
Here we are coming up to the finish line, raising our arms in celebration. It has been a year long of training, and getting ready for this day. There is no feeling like coming across the finish line at this point.
Of course, after all of that work, we needed to celebrate a little bit, and get some calories put back in. The reward for all of the work!
It goes to show, if you set a goal, and stay focused, you can achieve it. It always helps when somebody else is there to help push and motivate along the way. We accomplished it, and are ready for the next goal. Stay tuned as I show off some other pictures, and stories from the marathon, and events of the weekend. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day#: 1940
by Dan | Jan 9, 2013 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We are taking off for Orlando tomorrow. Some good friends are coming with us to take in the Run Disney Half Marathon/Marathon this weekend. Their daughter Carissa and Sarah are running the half marathon on Saturday, and Steve Hauck and I are running the marathon on sunday. Steve and I have become good training partners this past year. We originally were going to do Fargo in May, and Steve had health issues and we had to shut him down. I posted on this earlier last year. Well, now he is healthy, and we are ready to take on his first marathon. They will be cheering loud for us, and know where we are from when we are wearing these shirts that day.
It has been a lot of work, and we are ready to take this on, and our families are ready too! The only goal of this marathon for me is get my training partner across the finish line. That is our first goal. A secondary goal is to break 4 hours. Regardless of our time, the journey has been a lot of work, but it has been a lot of fun. When you go through this with someone, you start creating a bond that can last forever. When it comes to our health, everything else should be secondary.
Like the back of our shirts say, Success–A Journey, not a Destination. This whole training plan has been a journey, and adventure. We will finish our marathon this sunday, but by no means will it be our final destination. Steve will accomplish his goal of finishing his first marathon, but the running will go on. It will be an end to a chapter to this story, but the beginning of another. Take care of your health. You don’t always get second chances. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1932
by Dan | Jan 6, 2013 | Equipment, Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
I got a great Christmas present from Sarah this year. The Nike+fuelband watch. It calculates how many calories you are burning while doing activity, counts how manysteps you take, and can even be used as a regular watch.
Here it shows how many steps I took on this particular day. It attaches to your computer by USB, and you can register it to yourself, with your weight, height, and age. You can keep connecting to the computer and it will continue to keep a log/journal of your activities–steps taken, calories burned, on a daily basis.
You can have it set for different goals, and once you achieve them, it lets you know that you have made it that day. It is a great way to keep track of all the activity you do for the day. You can use when you are actually doing exercise, or wear it all day long so you have an idea just how many steps you actually take in a regular day. Very convenient, and useful. You are doing walking everyday, why not count it besides! Keep moving everybody!
Maybe this will help me actually keep track of the number of consecutive days. Somewhere in the last 2 months I started going backwards instead of forwards, and have been listing the days 100 less than it should have been. My consecutive days should actually as of today be 1928. Now to keep track more closely as I go.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1928
by Dan | Dec 31, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health, Winter
Here is a recent photo of scenery here in SD when the trees are all frosted. When you have scenery like this, it makes it much easier to get outside and exercise. This is the last day of 2012. Time to start getting our plans prepared on how we are going to help take care of ourselves, and be healthier and more active going into 2013. I just recently talked about maintaining your focus. Every once in a while you can look at the big picture to see how you are doing, but along the way, you may have to focus on some of details.
Those details can offer a lot of assistance in helping to overall keep us on track. Just remember, don’t get overly hung up on the small details. We have to find that blend between each detail, and the overall picture. At this time of year, you can’t focus solely on the weather. You just need to get out and get going. If we waited for the perfect day, we would never get started. So along the way, occasional look at the details, but stay focused on the big picture. In the long run, you will be much happier, and hopefully, be more healthy as a result. Happy New Years eve, and keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1822
by Dan | Dec 23, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health, Winter
It is easy to get frustrated this time of year when it comes to trying to stay active. It is cold outside, and all the “white” outside can get kind of boring. You have to narrow your focus down. When you try to look at the big picture, it can be very daunting. It is too easy to say, “not today”. You have to pick out certain things as you are going to focus and concentrate on, and the task can be much more managable.
Narrow your focus, and your goals, to one thing at a time. See it for what it is, then focus and concentrate on something else. Before you know it, you have already gone further than you thought. If you focus just on the “cold”, or try to look or handle too much at one time, it is easy to quit, or worse yet, never even get started. Make that part of your New Years Resolution. “Chip away it things”. Don’t “bite” off more than you can chew. You need to make it realistic. Many of the times that we don’t succeed at our goals is because our goals are too far out of reach to be achievable. Break it apart. Work your way up to the “ulitmate goals” that you set for yourself, but make the path along the way in smaller increments. You will get there faster, easier, and with a much better attitude. Remember, the best things in life are not always the final goal or destination, but the trip you encountered getting there. Enjoy life along the way. Happy Holidays! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1814
by Dan | Dec 13, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health, Winter
How do you get yourself motivated to exercise? This is a question i hear all of the time. For me, it is my escape. Time for me, to relax, think, however I want to handle it. Whether indoors or outdoors, both have advantages/disadvantages. With the snow out now, I definitely have to think a little more whether I run outside, especially with snow and ice, and with the bike trails covered, being on the road, and being safe. I often times find myself struggling to get motivated to keep going as well. I try to keep reminding myself how I feel when I do this, and this often times pushes me out the door. I always try to thing of something positive to go on as well.
Sometimes, you have to imagine you are away somewhere, and keep your thoughts of this. Especially if it is cold outside, it helps to think of somewhere warm. Your attitude is the majority of your ability to get moving. You decide to sit, or to move. Which would you rather do?
Keep your attitude moving in the right direction, and you will soon find your body doing the same thing. I said before in the classes we teach…this is not rocket science. If there was a pill that truly could motivate you to go and exercise, we would have it made. As I have said before, things in life worth having are worth fighting/working for. They mean so much more this way. Keep staying positive with the change in weather, and heading officially into winter. You can still exercise, but you have to think about how you are going to do this. Keep moving everybody.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1804
