Matt Joining the Navy - Getting Ready

I was told to break myself into this slow so today I did not go for a run, however I wish I had of, my body is sore all over muscles I had forgotten about in my ankles, back, side, etc. However I will be waking up in the morning and doing a run before I have to do the unthinkable.

 Work on a saturday, our company is going to branch out into Hong Kong and we are supposed to go live on monday, so I have to go in all weekend to make sure everything gets signed off from the testing team.

I went out this evening for a run, after reading I decided the best way to start this program was to walk for 60 seconds and run for 60 seconds. I thought this would work great I mean how hard would it be for a 30 year old smoker who has not exercised really for at least 5 years.

 It was tough, by the time it was time for me to start walking the third time I was hurting, my legs where burning and my lungs did not seem to want to work. But I pushed on, every step was getting tougher and tougher, but I refused to stop or quit.

When I got to my half mile mark and it was time for me to turn around and go back the same way I came I was very happy. It was a small sense of accomplishment for me to actually make it that far. The whole way back however my legs where burning and even itching, never had my legs itch from exercise but I just wanted to stop and scratch them.

I kept pushing and finally made it back to my driveway it was such a nice welcoming driveway to see, I made it all the way to the house. Mile 1 is done, however at that pace I could only do a 5 mile week. This is nothing.

I must press on.

I have decided that seeing that I’m 30 years old at the time of attempting to enter into the Navy that I will stand out in basic training so I must be prepared.I am a web applications developer by trade so I spend a lot of time in front of the computer doing nothing. This has not been the best for me all the coffee, cigarettes, donuts etc has played hell on me. I have to get in shape before I ship out.

Now mind you I still don’t even know if I will be able to join at this point.

Here are the beginning photos. I will be posting weekly photos of the progress and what I am doing. I will attempt to write an entry every day while going through training with what I did and how I feel before and after.

 I have decided in order for me to do my best at basic training I want to be able to meet and exceed all standards set by the government for people who are finishing basic training.

My training regiment will include running, swimming, push-ups, crunches, pull-ups, and possibly if I can find a good school tae kwon do again.

Goals

• 30 miles running a week this is 5 days of running 6 miles a day
• 100 push-ups in 2 minutes (no rest)
• 100 sit-ups in 2 minutes (no rest)
• 20 pull-ups in 2 minutes (no rest)

I intend on starting this on a one week cycle so each week I will move something up in order to keep pushing myself.

I have decided to join the Navy, for a few reasons the main is I am a web applications developer by trade and to be honest no one really retires from this position. I have my 401k but I want to gain a pension to go along with it.  I do have a background that I am not proud of from when I was from around 15 to 18 years of age; this could however slow my trip down to the navy.

After talking to the Navy Recruiter I was told I could not join active because I have a wife and 3 children. I could however join the reserves. After further talking I made the choice. I will go with the reserves because you still earn a pension and are starting to get some of the same benefits as an active duty sailor.

I am still currently waiting on my background check to be given an okay. I hope that this does happen and happen soon. I am supposed to call back the recruiter on Monday. I will let everyone know here then.