My story is similar to the ones above. Before the pandemic I was a wreck. Finally got nabbed as having high blood pressure and started going down that road with a small dosage beta blocker.

I lifted and ran in college and grad school, but that all ended.

At this point I am 39. About a month into the pandemic I started walking as my exercise. That took a lot of work. I walked a goal of 10,000 steps a day usually in two long walks a day since we were working exclusively at home. So that was April to December with some relapses of diet/no exercise, drinking tons of beer etc..

December 2020 I buy a treadmill because it’s cold and I don’t want to walk outside. I start run walking. I do that and at home strength and core training until maybe June. I start running non-stop in June. I start lifting at the gym like college in June. Some running PT. I run my first organized road race as a turkey trot at just over 8min/mile. Run some 5Ks. That was 2021-beginning of 2022. At this point, I’m down ~90lbs. Came off medication fall of 2021.

2022 I do a bunch of short course triathlon. Decently competitive in a very competitive 40-44M age group. Sometimes top ten overall if it’s a small enough race, and usually age group podium if it’s less than 20 guys in my group. Though, local races aren’t that competitive. 2022 version of the turkey trot I completely annihilate my previous time.

2023 I’m looking at doing some long course, where I will definitely get my ass handed to me. But, I have a new bike, and I’m folded up like a taco on there, so we have that.

I would have never believed any of this was possible. It just takes time and deduction and faith in the process. That’s my story.

Separate thought on heat acclimation. That is one you need to do over time. I found it takes me a number of key outdoor sessions to get that going. For time reasons, I do a lot of my training indoors. If I’m going to do an event where the ambient is going to be higher, I start training in that heat as I get closer to the event.

Another key is water. I drink a metric ton of water. I drink coffee (with sugary syrup and milk 🙃), water, and electrolytes/ carb mix. That’s it.

I started running (by mostly walking at first) at the beginning of covid because I absolutely had to get out of my house into the fresh air away from my kids for 30 minutes or I was going to lose my mind. Blocking the time as fitness gave me that release and had great physical and mental health benefits, so much so that it became a habit.

Anonymous wrote:I went for a walk every single morning. Every week, I walked a little bit farther, trying to walk a little bit faster. After several months, I was in the middle of a walk and just felt like I wanted to start jogging, so I did, and recently ran a 5K, am down 5 pounds (and up some muscle), and am sleeping so much better. Making it a habit, and making it something gentle (injuries can be derailing) and just gradually increasing distance or speed. Something that you enjoy -- I liked having the time to listen to music or a podcast, get some fresh air, etc., and found the walk was really a mood booster for me. I also made sure it was at a convenient time, and then blocked that out on my calendar.

This is very inspiring!

Anonymous wrote:I went for a walk every single morning. Every week, I walked a little bit farther, trying to walk a little bit faster. After several months, I was in the middle of a walk and just felt like I wanted to start jogging, so I did, and recently ran a 5K, am down 5 pounds (and up some muscle), and am sleeping so much better. Making it a habit, and making it something gentle (injuries can be derailing) and just gradually increasing distance or speed. Something that you enjoy -- I liked having the time to listen to music or a podcast, get some fresh air, etc., and found the walk was really a mood booster for me. I also made sure it was at a convenient time, and then blocked that out on my calendar.

This is very helpful advice, thank you!

I went for a walk every single morning. Every week, I walked a little bit farther, trying to walk a little bit faster. After several months, I was in the middle of a walk and just felt like I wanted to start jogging, so I did, and recently ran a 5K, am down 5 pounds (and up some muscle), and am sleeping so much better. Making it a habit, and making it something gentle (injuries can be derailing) and just gradually increasing distance or speed. Something that you enjoy -- I liked having the time to listen to music or a podcast, get some fresh air, etc., and found the walk was really a mood booster for me. I also made sure it was at a convenient time, and then blocked that out on my calendar.

Any success stories for people who aren’t healthy and/or very out of shape who improved their fitness? Could you walk me through what you did and how long it took you? I am thin but have some challenges and an outdoor tennis lesson (92 degrees and humid where I am) just totally pushed me over the edge. I feel like I want to lie down for the rest of the day, but have so much work to do. This was my first serious workout in over a year, since I had Covid.