VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

It’s time that I take a good look at myself, and make some meaningful plans to change what’s been staring back at me in the mirror.  I’ve been relatively inactive since the middle of summer, and I am ready to change.  I love the transformations that I’ve seen from others when they pursue 12 week goals, so I thought that I’d try to see what I can do during the next 12 weeks.  My goal is to set a 5K PR on January 1st.  The steps that I will use in this pursuit are as follows:  

Diet: Dust off the Tosca Reno book and cookbook, and work on cleaning up my diet, and the diet of my family.  I do the bulk of the food shopping and the cooking for my family.  We’ll all benefit from healthier choices.  In addition to eating cleaner, I need to tighten up my portion size, and stop my late night snacking habits.
Core training: I have two different routines, one using light weights and a stability ball, the other using a medicine ball and a bosu trainer.  I haven’t touched either in nearly 6 months.  I like both sets of workouts, and will alternate them for a total of 6 workouts a week.
Cardio: For the month of October, I’ll be building my base.  Focusing on increasing my base runs from 3 to 6 miles, while keeping down, below my normal target heart rate.  I’ll increase my October long runs from 6 to 9 miles. During November and December I will allow my heart rate to reach my usual target zone, while adding hill and tempo workouts.  I’ll continue to increase my long run distance from 10-14 miles.  I’m going to refrain from racing during October, and consider some local 5K races during November.

My goals during these 12 weeks are to get my weight below 185, get my fat% below 15%, and run my 5K faster than 23:38.

I spent today on my bicycle, first commuting to work, then commuting to my weekly class at UVM.  It was chilly and gray for my AM and PM commute.  I found out how much my aerobic capacity has deteriorated as my morning commute left me gasping for air, and when I needed my granny gear to climb the steep hill about 2 miles from work.  During my night commute home, my concern was for my safety.  It had been raining for nearly three hours.  In addition to it being dark, the roads were slick.  I road cautiously especially during my first 2 miles as I navigated through the busy traffic on Route 2 headed out of Burlington.  I arrived home none the worse for wear, and having empirical evidence that I need to heed my AM alarm and get my @$$ out of bed and resume running on a regular basis.