Greetings to the Good People of DaVitaLand,

It is Sunday night.  I last left you on Friday afternoon as I was flying from the east coast to Denver.  I was able to work things out so I got a short workout in before dinner.  I was not great company as I was still not feeling well, but it was a fundraiser dinner and we had committed to go.

So Friday was 20 medium minutes on the bike, and 11 additional minutes of stretching and a few push-ups/crunches.  Not impressive, but the best I could do.

Friday night I slept for 11 hours!  Guess my body was telling me that if I want to get healthy I needed to give it a break.  I went back and checked and leading up to November 6 I had worked 31 days in a row.  Then only one day off since then.  Even though most of the weekend days were significantly less than a full day, this is still not healthy.

Unfortunately the 11 hours of sleep was not enough to get me healthy, so I did not work on Saturday.  I did a medium 27 minutes on the lifecycle, an additional 10 minutes of stretching, and had zero diet cokes.  So the day felt very good, and in the late afternoon we started the daunting task of moving into our new house in Denver.

Saturday night I got another 9 hours of sleep, still not quite enough to shake this thing, but I am feeling better.  The entire day was consumed by moving stuff into and around our new home, except for the workout of 25 medium minutes on the bike, and 14 minutes of stretching and a set of push-ups and crunches.  Zero diet cokes again, I don’t know if I have had 2 zero days in a row during this campaign or not, but that is good.

It is hard for me to get the big 90 minute activity sessions in when I am staying in a hotel.  We also got 10 inches of snow on saturday/sunday.  I am going to try to make it up next weekend and over Thanksgiving.  In the meantime I am hoping hoping hoping that I wake up healthy tomorrow on Monday am, I am sick of being under the weather, if you forgive the pun.

All the best to all of you!  Over 800 of us, well into the second month of the 60 day campaign for healthier lives!

Carpe Diem,  KT

Yo DaVita,

Jean, from Deland Florida — are you using that treadmill you bought on Craig’s list?  have you increased the number of minutes from the 6 you started with?  I hope so!

Lauren from Philadelphia PA — did that spider ever come back, the big black one that climbed onto your head?  Dangerous stuff, this exercise … more dangerous not to tho …

Carole from Hammond, Indiana — impressive running to start with, all the more to increase it, I hope the pointer you rescued is appreciating his/her life in your care.  most impressive that you went cold turkey on diet coke for a month — have you kept that up?

Amy from Brighton Michigan — thank you for your kind thoughts, I look forward to seeing you soon at the next Hilton meeting ….

Chrystal from Glendale, Arizona — it is great that your DaVita team is taking walking breaks together!  and thank you for the kind thoughts …

Tess from Team Evergreen in Tacoma — are you in those size 12’s yet?  doing a 30 minute aerobic walk 6x per week is awesome!

Leslie from Munster, Indiana, 2 entries from Indiana, the Hoosiers leading the pack — we are the same age, 53, and it sounds like kindred spirits in many ways.  I am glad they were able to fix your heart problem, and hope your rehab is continuing well …

Joyce from Lufkin Texas — Thank you for sharing, have you been able to get your activity level back up towards your goal?  It sounds like you were ready to give it another run, I am hoping you have!

One for All & All for One,

KT   (and thanks to others for their kind thoughts during my family’s rough stretch!!!!)

Yo DaVita!

Sorry for the long gap.  Two reasons — (1) I typically catch up on email on plane flights and weekends, and this week my plane flights have been filled with other work, and (2) I have a cold, which has cost me some time and positive energy.

The week started well with a healthy Monday am exercise session.   24 strong minutes on the bike, some weights and stretching, overall 35 good minutes.  1 diet coke in the all day meetings.  I was going south as the day progressed, and by the time my business dinner was over at 9:30 pm I knew I was in trouble and pushed back the start of the next day to 10 am.

I went home, went to bed, decided not to set the alarm to get up and exercise, and instead slept until 9 am the next day.  Usually sleep is my best way of nipping things like this in the bud, and it might have worked this time if I had not decided to stick to my schedule to fly to the Casa in Los Angeles that night.  We made sure I did not get close to any of the people I was meeting with all day.  We ended the meetings at 6:30 pm, I went home, finished packing, wolfed down some food and headed to the airport.  I worked with our CFO on the plane, and got to the hotel about 11 pm, and lights out about midnight.  1.5 diet cokes.

Solid exercise on Wednesday am, which may or may not have been smart, since I find that exercising when I am a bit sick can be a bad thing.  20 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes of other stuff, total of 30. I flew to LA for one reason only, that being to do a town hall with a DaVita University class, about 40 wonderful leaders in the midst of a 4 day class.   It was great to get their questions and comments, and made me feel better!

Then I flew on to Chicago to co-teach a class on Leadership at the Northwestern Kellogg Business School.   My doing this helps us get new ideas, and helps us recruit great new people.  DaVita is the only company in America being asked to speak at the leadership classes of each the three top business schools in America this fall, Harvard, Stanford and Northwestern.  The outside world is most impressed by what you guys have done, are doing, and aspire to do!  Please remember, leadership is not a function of position, it is a function of behavior.  Anyone can be a leader.

But physically I was going downhill.  The class went until 9:45 pm, and then I returned to the airport to fly to Washington DC.  The plane taxied out to the runway, and then we heard the dreaded words “We have a warning light on that is not supposed to be on, we need to check it out.”  One hour later they determined that plane was going nowhere that night.  Back to the terminal, into a car to a nearby hotel, lights out a bit after 1 am, and I was not feeling so well.

A sliver of good news for that day — zero diet cokes.

Up early to catch another plane to DC on Thursday morning, no way to do a workout before then given the late bedtime.  But what I did was cancel a meeting late in the day, right before my working dinner with one of the members of our Board of Directors, and raced back to the hotel and got in 20 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes of stretching and push-ups, etc.  Total of 30 minutes.

The dinner with the Director was over at 8:30, and I was dying to go to my hotel room for an early night, but it was a friend’s birthday.  He and his family had just moved to DC from Poland, and there were no other friends in the area … so 40 minutes of driving later I joined them in some birthday cheer, trying hard to avoid spreading any germs of course.  This made for another late night.  I imagine a lot of you face the same challenge of finding the time and energy to maintain close friendships.  I am glad I went to help him honor his birthday.  Only 1 diet coke on the day.

Which brings us to today, Friday.  I had to start working as soon as I got up this morning, and now I am on a plane to Denver.  I should be able to workout before Denise and I go out to dinner tonight.  We take possession of our new home tomorrow, which is exciting.  The only negative is that I do not have a bike to do one of my long weekend bike rides, we will not be near any dirt running trails and I cannot run on hard surfaces anymore,  and we will be scrambling big time to start buying furniture, winter clothes ,etc — so it will be hard to get in the big weekend minutes I am used to.

I hope you all had successful weeks.  My guess is my weight popped up a bit, but nothing major.

Let’s keep it up!

KT

Yo DaVitans,

Yo to Kizmat from Atlanta, a second time … for your second kickboxing class.  I am not sure you should do them 2 days in a row given what an increase in activity it sounds like it represents.  consider alternating between high and medium intensity days.  all the best!

Yo to Cori from Chino, California … how about some workout stuff you could do at home, in the same room as your 3 year old?  good luck …

Yo to Rebekah, from Gilbert Arizona …. 14 pounds in a month is amazing!  i am excited for you, and jealous to be honest.  Good luck in that first 5k, and I look forward to hearing that you are in fact off your high blood pressure meds.

Yo Helen from Chicago Heights, IL …. good to hear you started modestly, with 15 min at 2.5 mph … and fun to hear how quickly the numbers are increasing.  I wish you the best …

and Yo to the rest of the team — we are well over 800 strong!  and that in fact is the right word, because setting a health goal, ANY health goal, and sticking to it IS a sign of being strong.  strong to live, as well as to think.

One for All & All for One,

KT

Yo DaVita,

I hope you all had a healthy and fun weekend!

(First, an admission.  I had a second diet coke on the 6 hour plane home on Friday, I was having trouble staying awake and working, so I guzzled one, alack and alas!)

On Saturday I had to get up a little earlier than I wanted to get 45 minutes of DaVita stuff done and still have time for a good exercise session before we were heading out to a Stanford football game.  The workout was great.  I ran the nearby hill again, the one in the reserve.  2/3 of it anyway.  27 minutes of climbing (actually 22 seconds faster than the last time), then some level stuff and then the brisk run/walk down.  Total minutes of 80 when you include the stretching.  I also had a nice 50 minute walk with Denise later before dinner, which I will discount to 25 minutes given it was not intense.  So a total of 105 minutes of healthy activity.

Also zero diet cokes on Saturday.  Eating not so good, not at a football game followed by some friends and family over for grilled steak.  And I had ice cream again.  Oh well ….

Sunday was solid.  30 solid minutes on the bike, some weight-lifting and sit-ups, and some stretching.  A total of 45 minutes.  Zero diet cokes, a lousy lunch where I lost my discipline and had two cheeseburgers.  I was down to 192 before the weekend, we will see how much higher I am over the next couple of days after my eating extravaganza this weekend.  It is too bad, on Saturday am I literally was thinking I needed to have a new hole added to my belt because it was too loose.  Too loose no more.

Now it is Sunday night and I am catching up on emails and executing on some DaVita stuff so I can hit the ground running tomorrow.

Take care,

KT

Good Evening DaVitans,

It is Friday and I am on the 6 hour plane trip home from Boston.  I will get home about 8:00 pm and look forward to taking Denise out for a wonderful dinner and conversation.

I have some fun news for the Village — many of you know about our Village Health program,  where we serve as the coordinator for all aspects of our patients’ care, meaning the hospitalizations, the surgical procedures, the diabetes, the family issues etc.  This is a special demonstration project we are doing in partnership with CMS, the agency the runs all of the Medicare program.

Well the Harvard Business School considers it to be one of the best examples of where healthcare needs to go.  And they wrote a case about it, and it will be taught for the first time in January, at Harvard, to about 75 MD’s, MBA’s etc.   This is a powerful example of the third ring of our Vision Circle, which declares we want to be “A Role Model for American Healthcare”.  Michael Porter, one of the most famous business professors in the world, and a consultant on healthcare to many national governments in Europe, Asia and Africa, will be the teacher, and has overseen the development of the case.

So CONGRATULATIONS  !!  You are each a part of the story that made this project possible.

Back to the basics of healthy living and exercise.  I got back from my business dinner about 9 pm last night.  I caught up with my assistant in California, tried to provide some Service Excellence by reviewing different reports from other teams, and stopped working at 11.  I read for 45 minutes, which is the way I love to end as many of my days as possible.

Then up at 6:45 for a quick workout.  20 medium minutes on the lifecycle, push-ups and crunches, and a little stretching.  29 minutes.  One diet coke on Thursday, and one today on Friday (so far, but I think I will make it).  Reasonable eating both days, so far.

All the best,

KT

Yo DaVita !

First, I must admit I had ice cream last night.  It was a bit after midnight, long day, and I treated myself.  Life’s rich pageant !

Second, to Tammy of Winter Park Florida:

You go girl!  10 pounds is awesome!  Not only a gift to you, but to your son.

Third, to Kizmat of Atlanta Georgia:

Wow!  to go from no exercise to a 60 minute kickboxing class is amazing.  i have done karate classes a second time,   but my hip joints are so inflexible I was only able to attack other people’s shins … which is quite a handicap.  Plus, you have a great name.

Fourth, to Beverlee from Team Liberty in Berwyn, PA:

Congratulations on getting over the hump of that first day!  One day at a time, that is the only way to do this.  I remember how much harder it was when my kids were younger, so I can empathize big time.

Fifth, to CJ from Tacoma Washington,

I did yoga for a few years, then had to stop when I herniated my disc.  Then I was about to start again when I had knee surgery.  It is time for me to start again, and reading your message will help me do just that.  I hope there is a bikram yoga clinic in Denver, we close on our new house in 2 weeks.

To all 4 of you, thanks for writing in, it gives me a boost to do better today than I would have otherwise.  I hope many others of the over 800 teammates in the MM II Campaign find the same energy in the blog.

One for All,

KT

Yo DaVita !

Good Morning.  It is Thursday am, and I last left you on my plane to Philadelphia on Tuesday night.  I got to the hotel a little after midnight.  I did make it thru the flight with zero diet cokes, so Tuesday was a zero day in total.  Good.

The next morning I got a solid 30 minutes on the bike, 30 push-ups, 50 crunches, and a few minutes of stretching.  Total of 38 minutes of exercise during that stint.  The good news for me is I did two “walking” meetings that day — a full 2 hours of serious business done while walking instead of sitting in a conference room.  Since it was very low intensity I should discount those minutes, so I will reduce the 120 to 40.  But I would not want to discount it any further, because walking outside is such a healthy thing, physically and emotionally.  So total healthy activity minutes of the day are 78.

Unfortunately I did not sleep well, and had 2.5 diet cokes during the day — in one sense only 2, but since the second one was one of those 20 ounce plastic bottles I should count it as 1.5, hence the total of 2.5 on the day.

I did the senior exec interview in Philadelphia, then flew to White Plains, New York.  I did a meeting there, then drove to Connecticut for a dinner there.  Then I flew to Boston, arriving at my hotel about 11 pm.  Did some email and called it a day.

Today started in the gym, with 20 minutes on the bike, 25 push-ups, 70 crunches, and a lot of good stretching and a few weights.  A good 50 minute start to the day!  Now I am off to a day of meetings and calls, followed by a dinner.  I wish you all a good day, and thanks for the support!

No brag, Just fact

KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVitaLand,

I am on the plane to Philadelphia.  I only got up in time for a brief workout this morning.  20 minutes of solid lifecycle, and 3 minutes of stretching.  Felt good, and put me in a far better frame of mind than if I had skipped it, but it was only 23 minutes.

So far today zero diet cokes.  And reasonable eating.

On the plane tonight my goal is to get through 250 emails, prepare for an important interview with an IT candidate, and prepare for meetings with 2 members of our Board of Directors.  I also hope to take a second cut at the 2010 meeting calendar.

Ciao!

KT

Yo DaVita,

It is about 9:30 Sunday night.  I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Zero diet cokes today!  And healthy and reasonable eating.

As to exercise, also strong.  My younger brother came over, and we watched the Packer football game as we worked out and caught up with one another.

I like to do some of my exercising with other people.  I find it often helps me go longer and/or harder, or just makes it more fun.  And it is a nice way to maintain friendships, or create new ones.

As to the numbers, I did the big 42 quality minutes on the lifecycle.  3 sets of bench press, 3 sets of curls, 1 set of crunches, and a lot of stretching.  Total minutes of 75 minutes of good stuff!

So I think I had a pretty good week overall.  I will get the Tracking Sheet out in the next day or two.

Tough travel week coming up.  San Francisco meetings tomorrow, Denver Tuesday, Philadelphia & Connecticut on Wednesday, Boston on Thursday & Friday.  The long flight home on Friday night is the toughest part of it.  Lucky I love my job!

We are within about 8 people of reaching 800 health partners in MM II.  Let’s try to encourage a friend to sign up.  And I do encourage you to try submitting an entry for others to read — you will probably be surprised how it helps clarify your thinking, and make you feel more a part of a team/community effort, not just off by yourself.

One for All,

KT