I started jogging and was consistently working out 3-4 times a week running about 15-20 kilometers a week. I lost about 32 pounds and was looking fit for the first time in a long time. Then life took an abrupt turn and I lost all interest in preserving my fitness and my health be damned.
To be honest, mentally I lost my drive and enthusiasm. Since that time I've fought depression for about 2 years now. I am still working through my depression, but now I seemed to have found some measure of enthusiasm to start all over again and try to get back to where I was fitness wise. I've gained about 50% of my weight loss back and was at 215lbs when I decided it was time for change. So I started again. Now that I'm 54 years old and fast approaching 55 I needed to rethink my fitness routine and start out slow and steady. In my case I decided to begin by walking 1.5 miles at a fast pace and then walk another. 25 miles normally to cool down. Each time I would walk I would try to improve my session by walking a little faster each time while decreasing my time.
After about a month, I changed my walk to 2 miles while continuing to whittle the time downward. Fast forward to this week. I've now been at this for 12 weeks and decided on a whim to start doing split walking and jogging sessions walking 2 minutes and then jogging 2 minutes at a steady pace.
It felt great! Tonight I decided to try it again after feeling quite fatigued today and waiting until almost 9:30pm before exercising. Once I got going, I started feeling the familiar groove I once knew prior to my life changing event 2 years ago.
Now that it appears I've worked myself into a better state of mind, I think I can continue this practice and adjust as my body feels out the issues I may run into. When I used to jog before, my knees hurt constantly, which I think may have been from running too far, therefore my reasoning to jog only 2 miles instead of 3.1 miles (5km). The other issue I've appeared to resolve is trying to exercise consistently during the winter. Face it, treadmills can be a monotonous ordeal. Listening to music helps to find a running rhythm but keeping the eyes and mind entertained while running can be taxing. I decided this past summer/fall to video map the local bike trails while riding my bicycle. After some experimenting with different cameras and body mounts, I found a workable solution and started recording digital sessions on the multitude of bike trails in our community. Thankfully I also have software resources at my disposal to edit the footage I've compiled and have created several different trail videos. These have been a tremendous aid in keeping my mind in the groove without the monotony of a boring TV show or trying to read while in motion. While these videos aren't perfect and some tweaking needs to be done to stabilize them somewhat, they are still a great aid in making my exercise routines more enjoyable.
Here's the link to my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCswXQDlaPwUtLXigriL-GVQ
At this point, I'm feeling pretty good that I've been in the groove for 3 months and lost a couple pounds, I'm feeling better physically and working on improving my eating habits, cleaning up my intake, and finding happiness in digging into the Word regularly. Might as well improve my spiritual state while i'm at it. Hopefully with these positive sensible changes, it can only improve my health and make me a happier man while enjoying my life a little while longer.
Stay healthy and find your groove!
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