Garth's Get Back Into Shape
Page.
It is show down time for Garth to change his lifestyle and get into shape and stay there.
One of my favourite lines in a movie is what John Wayne (as Rooster Cogburn) said in True Grit before the showdown.
Rooster Cogburn: "I mean to kill you in one minute Ned",
"or see you hanged in Fort Smith
Ned:
"I call that bold talk for a one eyed fat man"
Rooster:
"Fill your hand, you son of a bitch."
First things first. Before you read the story I have to tell you something that will save your life.
If you are a smoker, quit and quit now. Do not delay it. SMOKING WILL KILL YOU early. That is not a threat but a fact. After 30+ years of smoking a pack a day and one heart attack, and many trips to cancer centres with family I speak from experience.
I was told at one time that the only reason more people do not die from lung cancer or any of the other hideous cancers that are directly caused by smoking is the fact that they do not live long enough to get it. They die of heart attacks and strokes first!
People say oh yes but I know of a grandmother, uncle whatever who smoked all his life and is still kicking and alive in his 90s. Have you ever wondered why that is such an amazing fact? Well it is because it is such an exception to the rule. It is no big deal for a non smoker to live well into their late 80s or 90s. Both of my grandmothers have and both are non smokers.
So get the smoking out of your life. Join a local support group or an online, get the gum, patch, zyban, lock yourself on a deserted island. Do whatever it takes but quit and do it today. It is the one thing that will be guaranteed to prolong your life.
Ok end of the stop smoking rant (but if you are a smoker please consider it).
Well as the title of the page says, I have began a fitness program to try to get back in shape. A little background may be in order here to explain why.
Sometimes I think that I am comparable to that proverbial dog that is in the jokes. You know the one that is described as lost with one ear, one leg, and blind in one eye, deaf and answers to the name Lucky!
I was born in 1954 and things went sour from birth. Being the difficult one that I am, I required assistance to be born, and the doctor, using forceps, dug one arm of them into my left eye damaging the optic nerve and leaving me permanently blind in that eye. Today that would have meant easy street as an insurance payout would have likely been substantial for this type of injury but back in those days it was just a terrible accident and that was how it was left. I have no bitterness about it and have functioned just fine.
Anyway to get on with it I live in Dryden, a small town in northern
I ended up with some rowdy friends and even though all of my teachers said I had such promise to go on to university I ended up packing in school to seek my fame and fortune after grade 10. Without going into details of the partying, motorcycles, accidents, etc and to make a long sad story short I went through a few go nowhere jobs and a collecting unemployment insurance cycle until I smartened up and went back to school at the ripe old age of 24. I ended up graduating from Sir Sanford Fleming College of Natural Resources and Sciences with a diploma in forestry and a job with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
True to the fate I was to live, in 1994 I had back injury (herniated disk), that left me laid up for a few weeks but I got myself back in shape and was functional again although not fully.
In the winter of 2001 I began to have some trouble with my blind eye and after a trip to the ophthalmologist was told that I had glaucoma and a large cataract in my blind eye. Because it was blind I did not notice it coming on. A few laser zaps later the pressure was relieved. I continue to require eye drops daily to keep it down but it is under control.
Then at the ripe old age of 47 on the 24th of August in 2002 I was at the local fair watching my wife as she assisted in support of the local cancer society. As I watched her I suddenly had a feeling of dizziness and began sweating profusely. It was a hot day but not that hot. I drove myself to the hospital (dumb thing to do) and was admitted immediately where I was told quite matter of fact that i was having a heart attack.
All of my hard living, smoking and poor eating habits had caught me. I went through all of the stages including denial, bargaining and finally acceptance.
I was airlifted to a couple of different hospitals but ended up in the fantastic care of St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg Manitoba. I had an angiogram that showed I did have some blockage but the damage to my heart was about 15%. I was also lucky enough that the area affected did not show that I was going to have another massive heart attack.
I was counselled by some fantastic people from their dietary, physio and pharmaceutical staff. When I returned home to our own hospital I was given excellent treatment and again the physio and dietary staff was there to help.
As I sat alone one night and feeling somewhat sorry for myself in my own situation it finally dawned on me that only one person was going to make this better. Here I was a caucasian male in my mid 40s, 30 lbs overweight, a 30+ yr smoker and terribly out of shape. I was the poster boy for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Association for potential heart attack victim. Why hadn't I seen it before?
My recovery was going to be the same as when I hurt my back only now it was one that was going to have to become a lifestyle and not just until I felt better. It was up to ME to make it work. I told my wife and of course she and my children were fully supportive and continue to be until this day.
I began my fitness program right there in the hospital, first with my diet.
It had not been that bad but there was room for improvement. I began to walk,
first just down the hallway, then around the hospital. Finally I was released
to go home and I would make daily walks around the neighbourhood with my wife.
I can still remember feeling so proud when I actually was able to walk around
the block non stop.
Eventually as I began to feel better and get stronger I was able to walk a full
mile but the weather started to get nasty.
We went to the local recreation center and we got a yearly family membership (this was to be a family affair). On a trip to the city I went to The Running Room and dropped a cool $500 on shoes and clothing for my exercise program. There I saw an add for the CIBC Run for the Cure and told my wife that would be my goal. By next October I said, "I will do that, I will walk or run that event"!
Through the winter I went to the gym daily for a walk on the treadmill. By mid October I was walking a full 30 minutes at 3.5 mph. I had a stress test which showed I was doing well and I began to extend my walking and by mid November I was able to run for a few minutes. By December I was starting to go to the weight room every second day and using the rowing machines, elliptical trainer and stationary bicycle. I made it a goal to row, bike and run a minimum of a marathon a week. Typically it was 12 mi biking, 4 miles rowing and 10 miles running.
During the summer of 2003 I made the decision to begin riding my bicycle to work on a daily basis which was a 25 km round trip. With great weather that summer I was able to ride close to every day. Every once in a while I would go for a run outside and eventually I could run 5 k non-stop.
By mid Sept I was able to run 10k outside non stop and on October the 5th
I ran the CIBC Run For The Cure in
On Oct 14 (a day before my 49 birthday) I ran a full 20 km and continue to improve to this day running 30-40 km per week along with regular visits to the weight room and other cross training. I have revisited Cross Country Skiing, an old sport that I used to do back in the 70s.
So that is my story of why I am here.
Like I said I am the proverbial dog named Lucky.
I started out 30 lbs over weight, blind in one eye, glaucoma and cataracts in
the same eye, 3 or so dried out disks in my back, lungs attempting to recover
from 30 years of abuse and a 85% functional ticker.
Now I sit and try to improve every day, I continue to run as much as possible.
I have completed many 5k, 10k, half marathons a 30 k race and even a marathon
in 2005. It is amazing how the body recovers, I am the most relaxed when I go
out and run for an hour. I have come from being able to walk around the block
to running 2 hours straight.
I have quit smoking, lost some weight, do my back exercises but I'm still blind in that eye and could still stand to loose a couple of those pounds but all in all I am doing OK.