12 days to go

Ok, it hard to believe but there are just twelve days to go before my first triathlon. I started down this road about four months ago. Then I weighed 128 kg, today I'm 114. I'm not at the weight I want to be but I'm almost half way there.

My first triathlon is a tiddler, just a 250m swim, 10k ride, 2.5 k run. Still, its a start. I'm actually more worried about the advice in my training guide to go easy on the training the week before my first event (or any event to be truthful). Training is a habit I've worked hard to develop and a habit I fear I might easily lose.

Still, I want to do well. But what is well? I've never done this before, I have no idea of a good time, so what is well?

John Friel - the tri training guru has a line in one of his books saying we should seek the Tao of a triathlon. I actually feel a little uneasy borrowing from eastern philosophies, especially ones I havent really studied. But, still I will borrow away to define my success in this, my first ever, triathlon. I want to run a 'good' race, I want to swim strong, I want to ride hard but maintaining form, I want to run with my head high, working hard but not staggering over the line. I want to run this race in a way that makes me want to do the next on 2 Oct.

Training tip. Getting up for a run.

I have always hated running.

Never been big fan of riding either to be honest but recently my riding has picked up as Ive begun riding to work. And it was this that got me thinking, why had my attitude to riding changed and what could I learn from that experience?

What I noticed is that riding became a lot easier when I stopped "going for a ride" and started riding somewhere I wanted or had to be. Whether it was work or the gym or the shops, I actually really enjoyed the experience (even though the ride home from work sometimes leaves me exhausted). So could I apply this to running? Well why not?. Anyway, the ride to my gym is just over three and a half kilometers. A little short for a ride but I thought, you know I could run that.

And I did. And I actually kind of enjoyed it, note that, it wasnt ok, it wasnt "not bad", it was good, I had a good time. I enjoyed it so much that I actually ran home faster (after a strength session) than I ran to the gym.

So, there's a tip. If you find yourself struggling to motivate yourself for that ride or run, try changing your routine so that instead of running or riding a circuit go somewhere (even work).

on the burst - the moral challenge of fitness

on the burst, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Many months ago a group of us went to a local over 40's football match to catch some of the action. First thing, props to the players, some of these guys are deep into their 60's and still going strong and gave us some great action to watch and capture.

Dont let the beard fool you, this guy covered the whole ground all day and had a surprising burst of speed. Here we see him 'on the burst' as they say, picking up the ball and breaking free of guys up to a decade younger than himself.

Which brings me back to my last post and the importance of having some sort of moral basis, or at least some aspect of a relationship to others, in aiding our will power or resolve. In a sense, these guys typify that. Chatting afterwards I was struck by the number of guys who reported something similar to me, that until they returned to competitive sport the idea of fitness was totally abstract and hard to keep hold of. The idea that this run, or this ride, or this swim will keep me alive longer simply wasnt enough. But the idea that this run/swim/ride will make me faster than THAT guy was tangible, real and shockingly important.

I'm finding the same, since deciding that I will participate in a triathlon, I've found my desire to train, to track my performance, to improve has increased 100 fold.

So if any of you want to change something (or just maintain something) dont try to do it totally alone. Find someone you either want to beat or keep up with and strive to do that - then the change will come.

Will power and moral choice

I have made little progress on a number of goals I set for myself this year. I havent blogged asI'd hoped, I havent saved as I hoped, read the books I'd hoped etc. However, there is one area of my desire to self improve that has gone well, my diet and exercise regime.

With a few slip ups here and there, by and large my weight and fitness is going in the right direction. I've lost around 16 kg, I'm running distances I used to struggle to walk, and all in all I'm confident I will make my end of year goal. But the question is why is this working but nothing else?

I feel and answer emerging in my mind.

Last week I heard something on the radio that really interested me. A study has been done into willpower. They found that people that had a moral dimension (good or bad) to there decision making displayed far greater 'will power' in achieving whatever it was they set out to do. This aligns with a on moral psychology (specifically moral identity) that found that in the lives of extraordinary achievers there was a link between their drive to succeed and the alignment of their moral and personal goals.

So, back to fitness and reading, blogging, photographing etc. I think this is the key. Fitness has become, for me, a moral choice. Not being fit and healthy has become a moral failing therefore my 'will power' to stay the course gets a massive boost. The other goals I set for myself dont have that support, so they founder.

So, looking ahead my plan is to review my goals to make them something I really care about, to forge that link between moral and personal. But its not just that, in many cases I feel there is a link between some of my goals and my morality already, I just forget it. So I also need to identify those areas where there is a hidden alignment and bring that into the open.

Top Ten Movies - a very blokey perspective

A friend recently posted her top ten movies list and asked us to consider ours - which is what I've done. After coming up with my list I noted its a really blokey list but I'm ok with that. So with no further discussion here it is:

Godfather 1 and 2. Where to start? Virtually perfect movie(s). The stories are really solid, characters complex, acting from Pacino, Brando, De Niro at the peak of their powers. Wonderful direction, sublime editing, haunting sound track. But ultimately its the script. Tom Hanks says it best in the Rom Com 'You've got mail': "It is the I Ching. It is the sum of all wisdom." Francis Ford Coppola's mob opera is the modern guy's indispensable guide to surviving with honor in a dog-eat-dog world.

Lord of the Rings 1,2,3. A brilliant movie of a book thought impossible to film. Weaves multiple threads of a complex tale without ever losing track or pace, intelligently edits out bits of the book that werent needed, but more than anything is a visual feast.

LA Confidential. You may not (or may) like Guy Pierce and Russell Crowe as guys but as actors they are two of the best going around over the past twenty years or so and in this movie they play to their strengths. I love the contrast between the glamour of the time we usually get with the gritty reality. We want to do the "right thing" but we also want to get something out of it personally (either promotion or the satisfaction of beating up some bad guys) and whats wrong with that?

Unforgiven. Life is tough, hard and unfair. There are no heroes. We do what we have to and sometimes it sucks but we never hide from the realities of what we do, pretend its all right or minimize the consequences for others. A movie that gives a man a code to live by.

Snatch. Funny, violent, fast, unpredictable, killer sound track. What more can a guy want?

Slapshot. There are so many great sports movies (Hoosiers, Rudy, Rocky etc) but this is my favorite. I saw this as a kid and wanted to a) be Paul Newman and b) learn to play ice hockey. Neither happened but I watch this movie over and over.

The Iron Giant. There are so many great Pixar and Dreamworks CGI movies but I think the best animated movie ever made and a one I never tire of watching is The Iron Giant. It’s a beautifully drawn, intelligent, and thoughtful film.

Le Mans. I think the first dialogue in this movie is almost 20 minutes in and frankly none of the dialogue is really worth listening to but ooooooh the sound of those cars on the start line and the scenes in the last 15 minutes of Porsches and Ferrari's duelling bumper to bumper have never been equalled even after all these years and make the entire movie an experience I repeat once a week every week. Someone may make a better car racing movie one day but until then this is in my top ten.

The Bourne Identity 1,2,3. Deep in our hearts a lot of us blokes want to be Jason Bourne. The mystique, the weapons, the fact that you are a killing machine, or whatever; Bourne owns the food chain. But Bourne movies don’t rely solely on Jason Bourne kicking the crap out of people. Bourne builds relationships with himself and others that keep the films from crossing over into cliché but steer clear of the boring maudlin stuff that has me reaching for the remote to fast forward . Oh, and he kills guys with pens and/or magazines.

High Fidelity. I have a real soft spot for Rom Coms. When Harry met Sally, Four Weddings, Love Actually - they all do it for me. But in the end High Fidelity is THE ONE. Perhaps its because is primarily a bloke's movie and it captures the tension between the fantasy we get sold and the reality we live while being funny, smart, and rocking it with great music.

Back again as a changing man

This will be a quick post to reactivate my blog and get myself kicked off.

So whats the big news? Well I'm a changing (not yet changed) man. Like some 70% of the population this year I made myself a promise, that I would lose weight, that I would get fit and that I would take up triathlons as a sport.

Well a few months into 2011 and it was all looking pretty sick but then a few weeks ago I lay in bed feeling sick, with horrible indigestion and unable to sleep. Finally it was time to get up and I just felt like shit. I looked like crap. But worse of all it finally dawned on me that I was going to die if something didnt change. ok, maybe I wasnt going to die that week, or month or even year but I was certain to drop off the perch earlier than I wanted to and earlier than I had to.

So I finally, really, took the decision to change.

For that last 6 weeks or so I've trained everyday but 2. I've put myself on a pretty strict diet and so far so good.

So some stats. I'm 192cm tall (or 6'3"). When I started this journey a few weeks back I was 127.5 kg (281 lb). Now I'm at 121 kg (266 lb). A loss of 6.5 kg or 15 lb. I realise this weight loss is not spectacular but combined with my strength and fitness improvements I'm pretty stoked. I didnt take a gut measurement at the start of this but now its 120cm. I do know all my clothes feel (and look) a lot better so something's getting better.

Ok, well thats it for now. More to come as tomorrow (I promise) I'll be back.

lounges are all the same

Once upon a time travel was exotic and romantic and I loved it. Actually, I do still enjoy it I don't play the world weary traveller that well, do I? but one thing that has palled for me are the business and first class lounges. for example,the air new zeala one I,m innow is nice but that's it, nice! I don't really feel special, I'm no more relaxed. I,m not distracted from the 16 hours I'm about to spend onthe plane.

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