Good Morning Worldwide MTM Team !!

Another quick one – I stopped doing email at 10:20 pm last night, and trundled up to bed and reading the newspaper.  Got up at 5 am for a quick workout – 16 minutes on the bike was all I had time for, but I did ratchet up a couple levels to make it pretty intense.   Then one set of curls (20×17) and push-ups (42) and a tiny bit of stretching.  Total of 22 minutes only.

I had to hustle because we had the leading TV Channel in Colorado in the Casa, because we are one of the leading participants in their annual food drive.  So they started filming about 60 of your fellow teammates making waffles  and packing up food and toys and other stuff – and therefore DaVita was on the leading morning TV show 3 times this morning.  While they started at 5:45 or so, the third segment with me in it did not start until 6:40.  Wouldn’t you know it, when the camera shifted to me and I was supposed to gracefully open the waffle maker, I realized I did not know how to open it and fumbled around for what seemed like ages as the TV announcer commented on my cooking prowess.

It was a fun event, and the announcer made a big point about how actively DaVita works to make contributions to the community, which was nice to hear.

As of 7:30 the regular meetings start and run virtually all day until 6:30 tonight.  Then I will run to REI to buy one or two things for my backpacking that starts tomorrow.  I  need to hustle because I have a business dinner that I will join in progress at 7:30 I hope – we have some important issues to discuss.

I hope I can avoid over-eating tonight.  And I hope each of the 3400 of you, plus the 4 dogs, have a great day!

One for All, KT

Yo DaVita!

Quick one today, it is 10:10 pm, I am going to stop doing email and go to bed since I have to leave for office at 6 am tomorrow am.  It will be the normal full day, followed by a business dinner that will not end until 10 pm or so, will get home 30 minutes later – but the drive time is a great opportunity to catch up on voicemail.

This am I got up at 6 am.  27 good minutes on the lifecycle, 2 sets of curls (16×20 and 11×20), 2 sets of push-ups (42 and 20), and some stretching.  Total of 39 minutes. 

Healthy high-fiber cereal for breakfast, salmon with asparagus for lunch at my desk while going over scheduling (if I am not in a meeting with other DaVitans, lunch is always accompanied by listening to voicemail or discussing scheduling with assistants, which makes it most productive!).  But once again ate more for dinner than I needed to, gosh darn it.

Meetings all day, but one of them was a fun Town Hall with the DaVita Citizens at The Lodge, one of our major neighborhoods here in the Denver area, 300 strong.  They gave a great core value award to one teammate, and had a presentation from one of the local charities where over 100 DVA teammates have volunteered.  Cool stuff.

Time to run – let’s continue to strive to be a Community First, and a Company Second.  I hope you all hit your goals today! 

AND we are up to 4 dogs participating, continuing to set new records!

One for All, KT

Yo to all you partners out in DaVita-Land!!!!!!!!!!!!

My second day back in the saddle, you could not have a happier camper on this end of the internet.

First of all I only did a couple hours of work this entire weekend, for the first time in many weeks given the HealthCare Partners process and some other pressing stuff.  whew.  I cannot complain, the team working for me on that process started working 7 days a week in late January/early February and that burden did not stop until 2 weeks ago.  yikes.  Maybe they should look for a better boss.

Second, I went out road biking today with a good buddy.  A total of 2 hours and 10 minutes of biking, 2600 feet of vertical.  As those of you who read my journal yesterday already know, my mountain biking ride yesterday was my first day of good exercise in 3 weeks, because of the hamstring injury (although I did swim 2/3 of a mile a few times, so that helped me get through the exercise desert).

Well today was a GLORIOUS second day back, and it appears my hamstring survived the test.  And my soul is doing cartwheels to be back outside, singing as my body pumps away in partnership with over 3,400 other good folks across the DaVita Village and America and the world!  I will ask Village Vitality to tell me which countries are represented by our international teammates in MTM V.  I hope they are enjoying seeing some of America’s prettiest parks.

I had no breakfast, a healthy Qdoba lunch (no rice, black beans, chicken and salsa), but for the second night in a row did some over-eating at dinner.  I will be checking my weight over the next day or two.  I started MTM at 189 or 190, and my goal is 184.

I hope most of you made time for great exercise this weekend, and hope that also included the life-giving properties of breathing in fresh air outside.

I will do my best to look at messages tonight – but I cannot guarantee it, I have some family commitments.

all the best, we are not perfect, but we are not done!     kt

Yo DaVita Citizens,

I AM BACK IN THE SADDLE!  2 weeks and 6 days after pulling my hamstring I was able to get on the Mountain Bike and head up Green Mountain.  44 minutes to the top, of which about half is climbing, with some stretches at a pretty good slope – I have been told the total vertical but I can’t remember.

It felt great!   Counting the riding down I racked up 60 minutes of very high quality/intense exercise, outside breathing the fresh air where I belong!  Later in the day I racked up another 65 minutes of modest exercise, as my son and his girlfriend and I did a hike up in the beautiful foothills. 
I don’t know if I have every been so far behind my goal in MTM, so it feels good to let the rally begin!

Given my breakfast was healthy fiber cereal and one small organic sausage link, and lunch was salmon with broccoli and wild rice, it has been a strong health day.  So far that is – tonight’s dinner is at an Italian restaurant with great food – although their portions are not large and they do not rely on creams and the like, so they save me from myself.  As Clint Eastwood said in one of his Dirty Harry movies “A man’s got to know his limitations.”  For me sometimes that means picking my restaurant carefully, instead of relying on my willpower by putting myself into a setting where I have too many unhealthy alternatives.

It was a glorious sunny day here, one where you must savor the glory of being alive.  And in my case savor the fact I get to work at the DaVita Village with so many outstanding human beings.  I love getting the notes from teammates who had fallen into bad health ruts, did not have a local support group to help them break the chain, but have found that group in the 3100 of us who have joined hands across the world to help each other in the pursuit of better health!   “First protect the vessel, for it is the carrier of life.”  Plus once you and your body know you are being better, it typically makes your attitude and ability to be empathetic to others get better to.  I believe in the mind-soul-body continuum.

And I believe in a lot of you, and what you do for our patients, and for each other.  While we do dialysis, we are not about dialysis.  We are about life, starting with each of you.

One for all & All for One, KT

Yo DaVita

YOU HAVE OVER 3100 PARTNERS IN YOUR QUEST FOR BETTER HEALTH!  Including over 250 family and friends (including 2 of my siblings) and 14 teammates from overseas!  AND 2 dogs.

But as for me, I missed yesterday and am at risk of missing again today!   We worked until 1 am on Wednesday night, getting ready for our big HealthCare Partners presentation in New York City, and so it was about 1:45 before I turned off the lights in my hotel room.  Since I had to get up at 7, and only got 5 hours the night before, I opted to take the 5 hours of sleep rather than do exercise.

The meetings went all day long, leading right into a dinner with the Lead Director of our Board.  I then joined the finance/healthcare partners team for the end of their celebration dinner, and then had to travel out to the suburbs, to White Plains, so that I could do a breakfast with another member of the Board of Directors today.  Once I got to the hotel I had to do a couple late phone calls to folks in the west, so it was another 5 hour night with no time for exercise before the breakfast. 

It is very rare for me to miss 2 days in a row.  Darn, darn, my body is asking me what the heck is going on?

But the good news is I have not felt any hamstring tweaks the last 36 hours so I hope to try my first post-injury mountain biking ride tomorrow.  Originally I was booked to do a 50 miler with 30 other riders, which would have racked up about 7 BEAUTIFUL hours of exercise for MTM – but I can’t risk that for my first ride.

I hope you are enjoying your first few beautiful parks!

One for All, KT

Yo DaVitans,

I hope you are all doing well in our shared Quest for Better Health.  Today I have to do a quick one.  I got up at 5:30 but was only able to get in 22 minutes of medium intensity on the bike and 3 minutes of stretching (not much, but every little bit helps, and when it is one type of stretch only 3 minutes can do some good).  So not good.  I hope my hamstring returns to normal soon.

The good news is that I skipped dinner last night – was just too busy to get hungry, and that rarely happens. 

Then phone calls all day today until I caught the plane to New York from Denver.  We will have meetings until about 11 pm tonight preparing for a big presentation on our new partner HealthCare Partners tomorrow – will be lots of investors in the room.  After the big presentation there are small breakout sessions for the rest of the day including lunch, and then I will have dinner with the Lead Director of the DaVita Board.   

I hope many of you have been able to visit some of the wonderful National Parks in person – I love visiting them, they are treasures.  The United States was the first country in the world to do that kind of land preservation, going all the way back to the time of Teddy Roosevelt, maybe even some of it just before him. 

All the Best!    KT

Dear DaVita-Land,

First, stop and savor the fact that you are now a part of a team of 2,960 from across the globe!  Including 14 Village citizens from other nations and 223 friends and family – including two of my siblings. 

Second, remember that we are partners in health – doing this as a way of encouraging each other to take some incremental step for better health.  Remember one of my favorite Buddhist sayings “One Cannot Pour from an Empty Cup.”  You cannot give what you do not have.  So please re-fill your cup by achieving your Match the Mayor goal, whether that is minutes of exercise, weight loss, fruit/vegetable servings, reading, or whatever.

As to little old me, I did 27 medium intensity minutes on the lifecycle this am – I hate having to stay at medium levels, but until the hamstring is healed that is my lot.  I did 2 sets of curls (17×20 and 10×20), one set of 41 push-ups, and 4 minutes of stretching.  Total of 37 minutes.

Also I am hoping I can take another 30 minutes credit for the painful and time-consuming 2^nd deep tissue massage I got last night.  believe me I would prefer not to go thru those.  I can’t even do voicemail or email at the same time.

On the job front, I worked until 7:30, then did massage.  After that ate quick and reasonably healthy dinner, then did email until about 10:30, with a call to Denise my wife in between, as she is in California.

Today is the normal back-to back meetings that started with being on the phone at 8 am, after my workout.  At 6:30 tonight I will attend and talk to a DWOT session (DaVita Way of Team), which I think will have about 40 Village citizens in attendance from across the country.  We will talk about leadership and creating value-based teams.  I am a most imperfect practitioner but a most serious student of these topics, and so I hope to help others become much better than me!   After that session I will either have a business dinner with a small DaVita group, or eat by myself and try to respond to some of my Journal comments. 

Oops, final MTM tidbit … I had a healthy shredded wheat with a little honey-nut cheerios breakfast again.  My lunch will be chicken and beets.  As to dinner, time will tell ….

I wish success for each of you today!!

One for All,   KT

Yo DaVita!

Day 2 of our grand adventure, which by the way this year includes 8 of our international teammates, another MTM first.

I subjected myself to a deep tissue massage last night in yet another effort to get my pulled hamstring healed more quickly – it was 60 minutes long, 30 minutes of it pure pain (as those of you who have had therapeutic massage can attest to), so I ask your permission to add that 30 minutes to my daily tally.  Believe me even the other 30 minutes are not oriented towards pleasure, instead they are focused on identifying the trigger points where pain will be inflicted.  So let me know!

I messed up last night and kept doing work email too long, until about 10:45 pm, which always cuts into my workout in the morning.  But I did 26 minutes of modest life cycle, 5 minutes covering 3 stretching exercises, and 40 push-ups.  Total of 34 minutes.

I had a healthy fiber cereal breakfast, and salmon with broccoli for lunch.  I will have a little strawberry snack this afternoon.

As for my workday I did DaVita voicemail while on the lifecycle, and my first call was not until 8 am.  My day is filled with meetings until 7 pm, covering everything from compliance to public policy to HealthCare Partners(that is the company we just announced we are buying).  Then I will do another painful massage, the a little evening email.

I hope each of you is off to a strong start – remember we are a team, there are over 2600 of us now! 

Let’s Do It!!     KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita!

Today over 2500 of us launch Match the Mayor for the 5^th year  (also known as MTM V).  Please take a moment to step back, close your eyes, and picture yourselves getting exercise or eating well with 2500 good partners!  While we can’t make it true in the sense of being in the same place, it IS true in terms of us actually doing this together. 

A partnership for healthier lives.  Starting with our own!

The 2500 registrants already puts us ahead of last year, where we got to about 2200, which was a big jump over the previous year, which was ahead of the prior year, etc.

My goals are:

1. To get my weight down from 189 to 184 (I weigh myself first thing in the morning, and only on the same scale, the one I have at home).
2. To exercise 35 minutes on 4 of the 5 weekdays, and allow myself only 25 on one day when I am more rushed.
3. To exercise 2.5 hours over the weekend.

Village Vitality will post my weekly results versus goal.  I will try to send a note out at least every other day, and look forward to reading many of yours.  We are in this together!  Speaking for myself, I know I have lived a healthier life in each of the first 4 MTM’s, because I know I have to report to all of you, and because I know I have partners in pursuing health.

A quick report on my day today.

1. I did 28 good intensity minutes on life cycle
2. 2 sets of bench press, 3 sets of curls.  14×120 on first set of bench, 17×20 on first set of curls.
3. 100 crunches
4. 4 minutes of stretching
5. All in all not a strong weekend regimen, for reasons I will explain.  But the total minutes was 43.

Now a moment’s context which will explain why this could be a rough MTM for me.  For whatever reason I have had more days of illness and injury in 2012 than the last 10 years combined.  So while I usually get exercise 6.5 days a week, this year has been far lower.  And 2 weeks ago exactly I pulled a hamstring while attempting to get back into running with a 5 mile loop.  Not the most thoughtful move, I know.

So I cannot do the longer outside weekend bike rides I am used to, nor even a long hike.  Yikes.

But knowing that many of you have equivalent or bigger obstacles will help me deal with this, get it fixed, and carry on in the meantime.

I flew to Los Angeles yesterday to be a part of the HealthCare Partners Leadership Institute Graduation dinner.  For those of you who did not notice, we announced that we were acquiring HealthCare Partners about 2 weeks ago.  Their institute is similar to some of the stuff we do at DaVita University.  It was a wonderful dinner, 50 graduates – and they spoke of their Mission and culture and good work for patients with the same passion and practicality that we do.  It felt like it could have been a DaVita event.  They bring us 5000 new teammates and an incredibly track record in improving the health of large populations, taking care of all their needs, not just dialysis.

Today I am flying back to Denver.  I will have a couple business calls tonight, then sit back and enjoy a quiet Sunday evening. 

Yours in service, yours in exercise, yours in health, One for All,     KT