31 Day Challenge Intro...

My body has been in such a state of decay that there is no way I could even entertain the thought of doing that epic swim I wanted to do...at least this year.  I won't give up on it though.  I like to challenge myself and find life is lacking without imposing that upon myself, so I have decided to give myself a three faceted challenge for 31 days that I am gonna start the day after tomorrow.  I was gonna do it for the month of July, but there is no sense in waiting.  After all, the sooner I begin the sooner I get done.  The bigger reason though is because if I wanna have any kind of shot at doing some triathlons at by the end of the season, even a five day head start is critical.

The first part of the challenge is to try to be plastic free to an extent...

What I mean by that is that I will buy no new plastic.  I will continue to use what I already have as it is impossible to avoid.  Think about it...tube of toothpaste, gas cap on van, buttons on the gas pumps, debit card, grocery points card, computer and mouse...the plastic is endless.  

So, avoiding plastic is impossible because of the way we are set up as society now, but bringing any new plastic into my life (excluding work) will be challenging enough as it is.  Think about this...  The simplest things like bananas and avocados are out as they all have plastic stickers on them with bar codes.  Bags of potatoes or packages of fresh rosemary are out as they come in plastic.  It will be tough for sure, but I am gonna do my best.  I might make one exception, but haven't decided on that yet.  That is on the soda lids if I go to see a movie...of which I do most every weekend.

The second part of my challenge will be for my scheduling of eating...

I will only eat one meal a day that will be during my work day during the week.  I will bring whatever I am gonna eat to work and that will be that...no eating at home.  During my weekend I will still eat only one meal per day.  I will use my judgement as to when that meal will be.  (Excluding popcorn if I go to a movie.)  The rest of my time at home are fine for juices and of course, water.  The biggest problem for this will be all the times I will have to pee because of how much fluids I will be drinking.  (My usual heavy amount of water, plus all the water and juices in place of food.)

The third part of the challenge is a physical one consisting of...

- 15 minutes of stretching
- 4 sets of hills per day
- 42 push-ups
- Set amounts of time on my bike on my winter trainer.
    -7 min x 2 days
    -15 min x 4 days
    -20 min x 4 days
    -25 min x 5 days
    -30 min x 16 days
- Weight training as usual:  4 - 5 sets each of:
    - Chest Press
    - Dumbbell Curls
    - Triceps Press Down
    - Upright Rows
    - Leg Extensions
    - Seated Rows
    - Calf Raises
    (Gonna try to figure out something else for     my legs too.  Not sure if my knees will let     me do lunges holding dumbbells.)
- 11 minutes of focused breathing

Some of the numbers of time and amounts are based on numbers I like, and also just the full sum amount of time I have to put in when it is all added up.  My body will only allow so much.

The push-ups isn't a big amount, but when you consider my shoulders often won't let me do 2 or 3 at a time, then 42 could actually shape up to be a huge number.

It is a bummer that it is summer and I have to ride my bike on my winter trainer, but I have tried out on the road and it had a devastating effect on my hernia. 

Early last week my hernia started hurting worse, and in a different manner too.  It was two days after I went out for my first jog of the year...a chintzy-assed little 4km run.  The run was my second choice as I was gonna try going for a bike ride again, but about 150 yards in my chain broke, so I had to bail on that and go for a run instead.

Although short, and therefore, basically a waste of time, I had to start holding my stomach to put pressure on my hernia and hold it in place.  The pain was of course masked by all the other pains I get when I run, but just after I made the turn on my out-and-back course I couldn't ignore it any longer

Even though he turned out to be a total jig, (jig's up now) I remember reading in one of Lance Armstrong's books where he said something along the lines of it being a total waste of time to go out for a ride for anything less than an hour.  I feel the same way with running.  If I'm just doing a stand alone run with no cycling or swimming, than anything less than 10km is a complete waste of time.  I felt this the whole time during that 4km run because it was genuinely how I felt.

As far as this fitness end of the challenge, I'll play it by ear for whether I can start running or not.  I mean, I will have to start at some point, but maybe this 31 day challenge will just be the thing to build my body up so I can start putting in about three weeks of road work before the triathlon weekend I would love to be ready for if possible.  (Aug 17 -19

There is also the water aspect of things that will all be bonus material for me.  How I go about that depends on when it is warm enough to get in and how long I can stay in for.  It would start out as mostly treading water before I got into actual swimming though.

How do I rank the three challenges in order from easiest to hardest?

1:  The physical challenge should be the easiest part of all of this as it is second nature to me for the longest love of my life.  

2:  The eating part of the challenge will be tougher at first while my body adjusts to the schedule and volumes of food.  After that it should be pretty easy.

3:  Eliminating all new plastic.  I am looking at a diet consisting of things like rice, broccoli, garlic, ginger, quinoa; but when you consider eliminating things like bananas, pineapples, avocados, chicken, etc, that shit could be tough just from a food stand point.  Who knows what else will come up that I will have to deny myself.  I guarantee it will be an eye opener for sure.

I have been aware of plastics for a long time, and generally trying to be conscious of things like that, but someone who I stumbled upon and have been following for some years now has really opened my eyes up even more.  Her name is Alison Teal.  I will write about her during this challenge of mine, but not right now.  There's no doubt she has been a huge inspiration though.  For now I will just put links to her web and Facebook pages:

Alison Teal's web-page:
alisonsadventures.com/

Alison's Adventures Facebook Page:
www.facebook.com/alisonadventure/

Hopefully I can instill the discipline I need to pull all of this off.  I know how hard I'll be on myself if I fail, and I hate the thought of that, so if I just have that belief and high standard for myself I should be OK.