The majority of being a dad seems to consist of going with the flow. This flow is dictated by your kids. The seemingly endless nights of extremely interrupted sleep ended for me about 4 months ago when the twins started sleeping through the night. Surely the mere mention of this to the world has cursed us indefinitely. An immediate apology to my wife as the children will revert to their previous pattern nighttime yelling, crying, chatting or running into our bedroom to offer an update regarding the proximity of the moon or pose an insightful question about cheese. It’s going to happen and that’s fine.
With all the extra time and energy at my disposal, I decided it was time to end my careless lifestyle, kicking my latest healthy-me campaign into major gear. Yes, the 4.5 year bender of unmeasured food and beverage consumption, parental fatigue and overall slothiness was over. It was a good run, but it was time.
Things started in earnest Feb 1st, when I decided to focus on changing my diet completely. Every successful fad diet I have taken on had one thing in common – it has to be simple. This means, no time for recipes, tricks or include items which I don’t like. This recent restart attempt was no different. I decided considering it was a short month, I would follow the “Whole30” albeit for 28 days. Essentially, this meant no alcohol, grains, dairy, processed food, sugar and all the other things which I enjoyed during the aforementioned dad bender.
Along with the dive into healthy eating, I committed to use my gym membership daily. Things started off pretty slow and I treated it as a reintroduction to exercise – meaning there were certainly days where the extent of my exercise was walking on a treadmill, drinking lots of water, admiring my lack of effort in the plethora of mirrors and of course shooting hoops. It is truly amazing how uncoordinated I have become as evident by the lack of hoops actually made – downside of being a dad or just out of practice? Toss up.
A week into the lackluster meandering throughout the gym escalated and a few substantial back injuries from improper form later, I came across the pool. I’ve always heard it was easy on the joints and I was desperate to maintain my goal of working out each day… but gym ‘go-to’s’ of kettlebells, Olympic lifting and box jumps were out given I was essentially immobile. The next day I packed the most tropical bathing suit in my repertoire and jumped on in the pool. To get started I went through a mixed medley of strokes I learned from watching the Olympics infused with exasperated walking lunges and general flailing. The times I did manage to swim a “lap” I looked like a hyperventilating distressed seal in a cold whirlpool. Ten minutes the ‘workout’ was done and believe it or not I was intrigued enough to continue down this path given there was no lumbar impact.
Eventually I became a daily swimmer and Whole30 enthusiast. It seemed to be working as all the fat around my face had melted away after 2 weeks. I began to work in a pretty standard routine of waking up at 4am to get to the gym and swim and really commit to the meat and potatoes diet. Patent Pending / Cookbook in the works.
Feeling the power of the newfound routine, particularly powered by potatoes, I felt it was time once again to shake things up and I peppered in running some mornings. Keep in mind I have a history of running, blogging and blogging about running. I was able to pick it back up without too much additional back pain. 2 months in and roughly 15 pounds of face fat later it is early April and I’ve gotten my groove back.
It’s no surprise I take to running as a duck to water as my dad was a runner. Some of my fondest memories are actually as he return home after a run. Always an athlete, I know now that he picked it back up as a means to unwind, stay fit and take a well deserved break from his dadly duties. A pinnacle of his running career as a dad was his participation in a triathlon relay with some friends, where he ran the final leg. It’s a day I remember well and have always admired his ability to train and stay fit while being a great dad to 5 precarious kids.
Folks, what we have here is a perfect storm of emotion and new found drive to get fit. Inspired by the one year anniversary marking my dad’s passing just a few weeks ago, I completed the longest run since completing my half marathon, I decided I was going to do a Triathlon of my own – in honor of my dad and all that he accomplished as a dad.
As a dad of 3, nothing is easy but everything is awesome. No bones about it. Keep me honest people and I will keep you posted on this journey.
Dad Cave 