October 31, 2009

Dear DaVita,

It’s 6 pm on Saturday night, and I am looking forward to a quiet night of reading and a movie with Denise.

I had to get up earlier than I wanted because I had a therapy appointment, because my leg isn’t working right yet.  When I got home I did two and a half hours of DaVita work, trying to provide Service Excellence to some of my team.  Denise and I then gave ourselves a rare treat (well actually it’s a treat for me), we went to one of my favorite burger joints, and I had a big greasy double cheeseburger.  It was awesome.

I don’t know if others of you are the same, but I find I get in reinforcing cycles.  The Doom Loop cycle is like the last 24 hours.  A bit more wine than would have been optimal, no normal dinner as I was mingling with our wonderful doctors, a late flight home after which I eat unheatlhy food, and then I don’t get enough sleep … which means today I have a craving for diet coke for the caffiene, for a greasy burger, and I don’t have my normal desire for heatlhy exercise.  That is the Doom Loop, when one bad element contributes to the next, which begats the next, etc etc….

The Circle of Virtue, on the other hand, is when I get a good night’s sleep, which puts me in the mood for a good workout, which puts me in the mood for a healthy meal, which puts me in the mood for drinking water not soda, etc etc etc.  This stuff all sort of fits together for me, these bundles of behaviors.

So there I was, wallowing in the Doom Loop earlier today.  I knew if I did a normal workout I would not have the will to push myself like I should on a weekend.  It was time for drastic action.  So I chose to do the Crossroads Hill run!  A steady climb, so you have no choice but to push yourself, because maintaining even a slow run is real work.

I drove to the nature reserve where the hill sits, did some good stretching, and off I went.  I had never run it before. It is in a beautiful forest, and I saw very few other people.  Pretty much just me, my stopwatch, and the double cheesburger.  And the 790 of you, of course.  I did see 2 foxes however.  Major endorphin rush as I savored the experience, the fresh air, the exertion, the natural beauty.

Victory!  I have broken out of the Doom Loop cycle and made the leap into the Circle of Virtue.  I will eat a healthy dinner, not have any ice cream, and get a good night’s sleep.  Total minutes of life-giving exercise today of 120, 40 minutes of which was running the uphill portion.  1.5 diet cokes.

New, Ours, Could be Special.  Have a good one!

KT

Check out KT’s exercise grid: http://villageweb.davita.com/go/?id=46044